


Wayfinding

by Carolina1k, Kaoru_chibimaster



Category: Final Fantasy XV, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Adventure, Again, Crack, Friendship, Gen, Humor, I hope, co writing this with my best friend, geez i'm gonna start building a reputation for this, general weirdness with some disney sprinkled on top, half the time i think i'm funny when i'm not, organization xiii is in there too occasionally
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 13:25:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8669413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carolina1k/pseuds/Carolina1k, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoru_chibimaster/pseuds/Kaoru_chibimaster
Summary: Well, Demyx was supposed to be on a mission, but...it didn't quite work out that way.





	1. The World that Never Was

**Author's Note:**

> So, I asked my bestie what would happen if Demyx and Prompto met each other, and her simple response of "oh god" is what spurred me to write this mess with her.

A loud, exasperated groan was heard throughout the castle’s grey room. Specifically, from one of the couches.

Three members of Organization XIII occupied the room, one of them being the source of the groan. The other two watched, one in irritation, the other in amusement, as this first member strummed sluggish fingers against the strings of a large, blue sitar. A pitiful attempt at music to accompany a pitiful site. One of the other members, smirking, saw fit to comment on the sorry state of his fellow.

“Y’know, if I whined half as much as you did, I might actually have the fortune of getting kicked out of this sad hunk of metal,” he commented, reaching up to shift his eyepatch which had been disturbed by his upraised cheeks.

“What are you talking about, Xigbar? You like it here…” came the huffed reply. Finally the third member spoke up as well.

“Demyx, don’t you have a mission to complete?”

Demyx was cut off before he could say anything.

“Xaldin, c’mon. Why do you think he’s moping on the couch in the first place?”

Xaldin raised his bushy eyebrows at Demyx, who only groaned again. Demyx, the ninth member of the Organization XIII and also the laziest lump of leather and too-much-hairspray to have graced the World that Never Was, did indeed have a mission assignment. That in and of itself wasn’t the issue, after all Demyx did occasionally enjoy jobs that paid well and didn’t require a lot of effort. Unfortunately for him, however, Saïx caught on to his lack of doing anything productive and slammed him with the worst possible assignment of all: take care of the giant heartless wandering around Fragment Crossing. It was unbelievable to Demyx in the first place that the Organization had even let a giant heartless roam the city for so long. Clearly being sent out on all these missions had diverted too much attention from the safety of their own home.

And really, Demyx was the last person who should be sent after the thing.

Xaldin, already fed up with Demyx’s antics, strode over to the couch to pull Demyx up. Demyx did not make it easy for the older member, laying loose in Xaldin’s grip as pure dead weight. Xigbar watched the entire thing with growing humor.

“You’ll stop that now, and you’ll do as your told, lest the Superior turn you into a dusk,” Xaldin grumped, not in the mood for Demyx’s typical patented brand of laziness.

“You wouldn’t even care if I was turned into a dusk…” Demyx sighed dramatically, sending Xigbar into a fit of snickers.

“No,” Xaldin responded. “I wouldn’t. But I’m sure you would, so get moving.”

Finally, Demyx stood straight and pulled his arm from Xaldin’s grasp just as the three heard footsteps coming from the hallway. They turned as a new face stalked into the room, holding a half crumpled piece of paper in her hand. Yellow sparks flew off from her clenched fingers, and it was a miracle that the paper, along with the room’s furniture, didn’t catch fire.

“Turning in your report, Larxene?” Demyx asked as he and the other two watched her. She froze in her advance before turning to face the three men, a cloyingly sweet smile on her face.

“Oh, _of course_. In fact, I was just about to ask you where I should leave it, seeing as Saïx isn’t here right now. What do you think? Down your throat, or up your—”

Xaldin interrupted her with a clearing of his throat.

“Saïx would prefer you turn in your report directly. He is where nothing gathers, speaking with the Superior. Best you go to him.”

Larxene’s sweet smile immediately dropped into the more familiar sneer as she rolled her eyes at her fellow members.

“Unbelievable. I have to chase this guy down just to turn in a report? I’d toast another scar right onto his ugly face if he wasn’t higher ranked…”

Larxene continued grumbling to herself as she turned on her heel and stalked back out of the room. Demyx watched her leave with a raised eyebrow before turning back to Xaldin and Xigbar.

“Well, she’s witchier than usual. What’s got her goat?” he asked.

Xaldin stepped away, not interested in answering, leaving Xigbar to explain.

“You didn’t hear? A few members are heading to Castle Oblivion for some sort of secret assignment about who knows what.”

Demyx had a feeling Xigbar knew exactly what, but didn’t bother saying so.

“Larxene and a few of the others will be heading there soon. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Marluxia, Vexen and Zexion were already there. You know how the scientist and his brat are…” Xigbar continued.

“And Marluxia?” Frankly Demyx was surprised to hear his name included. His and Larxene’s. Generally the later members of the Organization didn’t mesh well with members of the original six. And Vexen and Zexion were both practically the definition of un-meshable. If Demyx had to guess, that was the most likely reason behind Larxene’s ire.

“He’s the leader of the whole operation. He’s gotta oversee everything, so no doubt he got a head start. The others’ll follow behind.”

“Sounds important. I’m surprised you’re not going there, being Number II and all…” Demyx said, pulling up his sitar beside him.

“As if. I’m not interested in their little science experiments or whatever,” Xigbar snorted. Before Demyx could comment further, he received a hard shove from Xaldin.

“No more stalling. You’re not on the C.O. assignment and therefore need not worry about it. _Go do your mission_.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going already. Sheesh,” Demyx huffed, shaking Xaldin’s hand off before forming a corridor of darkness. Honestly, he was not walking through the entire castle _and_ the city just to find some dumb heartless. Saluting both men, earning a grunt from Xaldin and a returned salute from Xigbar, Demyx stepped through the entry portal and into the Betwixt and Between.

The moment the portal closed, Demyx stood for a moment in contemplation. Mostly to figure out how to get out of his mission. He really wasn’t meant for combat, and he really did not want to wander the city streets looking for a heartless that would probably squash him like a bug. Besides, weren’t heartless supposed to be Roxas’ area of expertise? Then again, the kid was nowhere to be found in the castle. Probably hanging around with Axel somewhere. Still, there were plenty more capable members of the Organization who could easily take the heartless out. Why did Saïx have to send Demyx? It was almost worth it to simply turn back and hide in one of the castle’s various nooks and crannies, and hope that both Saïx and the Superior stayed cooped up in the round room long enough to forget about him.

Almost. Nothing was truly worth being turned into a dusk.

Sighing again, Demyx figured he might as well get this over with. He’d let his water magic do the work for him, as usual.

He walked into the exit portal with glum thoughts, not in any way prepared to go off fighting giant heartless.

As well as not noticing the strange blow glow surrounding the portal that was not meant to be there.

-o-o-o-o-

Okay, so maybe Prompto had a bit of an issue with wandering too far ahead sometimes.

He couldn’t help it. He’d never been outside of Insomnia until now. Yeah, he was enjoying all this free time spent with his closest friends, but the novelty of seeing life outside city walls had yet to wear off. He’d seen things he’d only known about through textbooks, from flora to fauna and even to an astral shard jutting out of the ground like a crystalline mountain. It was almost dream-like, how different the rest of the world truly was compared to the capitol city. No textbook pictures compared to this…

Prompto took full advantage of his phone’s full battery, snapping shots of just about everything he could. From his friends’ silly poses to natural landscapes, everything Prompto could a good enough view of immediately ended up on his phone. Even now, within a thick Duscaen forest, Prompto could find about a million different things he wanted to take pictures of. It was only a matter of time before he got separated from the group, too eager to explore for new material.

Unfortunately for Prompto, this also meant he had no idea where the others were. Now the forest wasn’t looking too friendly.

Prompto paused, lowering his phone and listening closely, hoping to hear the voices of his friends…and hopefully not the calls of sabertusks. Or something worse. Thank the gods it wasn’t nighttime. He wouldn’t know what to do at the possibility of being confronted by daemons. His gun was kept strapped to his waist just in case. He didn’t want to be caught weaponless if he did happen to stray too far from his friends, particularly Noctis.

Keeping an ear out, he slipped his phone in his pocket and slowly started back the way he came, not wanting to move too fast and startle something. Or alert a predator. Prompto didn’t exactly want to spend his last moments as some animal’s snack. He kept his footsteps careful, half-wanting to throw caution in the wind and shout out for his friends and half-wanting to crawl up a tree and hide. Then again…who knew what was hanging around in those trees…

Prompto’s head shot up at the sound of a shout then. It was faint, but it sounded like his name. A grin lighting up his face, he started running towards the voice, ready to shout back. Forget being careful, he was saved!

That is, until he immediately skid to a halt.

And stared in wonder, as well as slight horror, at the large swirling blackness that just erupted from the ground.

He was pretty sure that wasn’t something one usually saw in Duscae. Then again, what did he know? He hadn’t seen half of his own home city.

“Geez, can’t believe I gotta deal with this…”

Prompto’s eyes nearly popped out of his head at the sound of another, much closer voice. Coming from right inside the blackness.

And then a person stepped out.

“Alright, where’s this heart…less…” the stranger trailed off, taking his surroundings in with a similarly owlish expression. The stranger, dressed in a dark cloak that contrasted his pale skin and (very oddly styled) blond hair, peek around at the greenery in astonishment before his gaze finally dropped on Prompto.

“Uh. This isn’t Fragments Passing.”

Well, yes. Clearly. Because Prompto had never heard of any such thing as this fragment’s passing, or whatever it was.

This person just appeared out of nowhere, though.

Prompto rubbed at his eyes and blinked at the stranger. Who blinked back.

There was a long stretch of silence.

“Well,” the stranger started. “I should, uh… I oughta get going. Uh, bye now.”

Prompto watched silently as the stranger turned back to the blackness, a portal he assumed, and stepped towards it. He honestly couldn’t explain what possessed him to do what he did next. After all, it wasn’t like a potentially dangerous person just appeared out of pure darkness or anything…

Pulling out his phone, he mumbled to himself “I gotta take a picture and show this to the guys,” and held it up to snap a picture of the man from nowhere. Who immediately turned at the sound of his voice, shaking his head and his hands vehemently.

“No no no no no! We’re not supposed to be seen in other worlds! I can’t let you have proof I was here!”

The stranger swiveled in place for a moment, unsure of whether or not to take the device or just run. In the end, he decided running would be better. Loathe to miss out on the opportunity of capturing this truly out-of-this-world phenomenon, Prompto unthinkingly followed with phone at the ready. In his haste, he found himself tumbling into the dark portal after the stranger.

And into the strangest thing he’d ever seen.

After the whole…person from nowhere ordeal, that is.

Picking himself up from the floor, which he had found himself on when he stumbled, Prompto stared with wide eyes at what could only be described as pure color. The portal behind him, pulsing with an odd blue color, closed abruptly and Prompto turned to find himself staring at more colorful empty space. It was a mesh of bright pink and yellow, like the sunset, fading into a nighttime blue. The colors moved like ripples, giving the space an organic feel. Like the area around him was living.

“Whoa. Freaky…” Prompto exclaimed, his head swiveling in different directions as he took in the odd surroundings. Finally his eyes landed on the cloaked figure from before, who was watching him with the look of an Anak caught in headlights. The other person jumped in surprise as their eyes made contact before he pointed a finger at Prompto.

“You…you’re not supposed to be here. I don’t even know _how_ you’re here…” he whimpered. He then turned and clutched at his head, mumbling to himself. Prompto, curious, drew closer to hear what he was saying.

“—unbelievable…X-face is gonna _kill_ me…can’t bring this guy back to the castle…what am I gonna do…?”

“Umm…are you okay?” Prompto finally asked, hoping to put an end to the pitiful sight. And what was that about a castle? Who was this guy?

He jumped again at Prompto’s question.

“Okay? Uh, yeah! Yeah, absolutely! Don’t worry, I’m peachy!”

Prompto wasn’t inclined to believe him, considering the way his voice wavered and the nervous sweat he seemed to be working up. Geez, what was with this dude?

“Okaaaay. Well, if you’re so peachy, then I’m sure you wouldn’t mind telling me where we are?” Prompto tried.

“Oh this place? Well it’s…actually, I’m sure you probably don’t want to know. Anyway, we’d better get out of here. Darkness corrupts pretty easily, after all,” the other guy replied with a nervous laugh. Prompto narrowed his eyes a bit at the cloaked man’s behavior and words. He was thankful he’d had the sense to keep his gun on him, as well as extra ammo in his pockets. He wasn’t afraid to pop the guy if he tried any funny business. And what was that about darkness corrupting easily? That only made him more curious about the strange, dimensional corridor. As well as wary…

Before he could demand more answers, the other guy held out a hand and created that same portal of pure darkness from earlier. Freaky, indeed.

The cloaked man jerked his head towards the portal, clearly intending for Prompto to follow as he stepped through, muttering to himself again. Something about heartless, that word Prompto heard him mention before, and now _this_. Prompto had to admit, he almost felt insulted at the insinuation of being a burden. But then…he did get himself into this mess. And if he stood around any longer he’d be stuck in this place, he noted with slightly delayed horror, as the cloaked man started to disappear into his portal.

“Hey, wait for me!” he shouted as he ran towards the portal and, with the slightest of hesitations, stepped through as well.

He’d look back at this moment later in hindsight, and lament on the first in a long list of bad decisions that day.


	2. Castle Oblivion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short set up chapter. Probably the tamest chapter too, considering the outline for this story...

Demyx squinted at the bright whiteness of the walls of Castle Oblivion. He peeked over at his hitchhiker, taking in his blonde hair and dark attire. There was a familiarity to him that made Demyx not want to hand him over. That made him want to befriend the other boy instead. He looked like the sort Demyx could easily get along with.

Still not worth being turned into a dusk, though.

“So, uh… Bye now!” Demyx waved at the stranger before lifting his hand to create another corridor of darkness. The hitchhiker in turn lifted his own hand towards Demyx.

“Whoa hold on there! Wha’dya mean ‘bye now’?! You planning on leaving me here?! I didn't sign up for this!” he exclaimed.

“Uhhhh…this is all a dream. None of this is real. You are getting sleeepyyy…”

“Dude, no.”

Well, that approach wasn’t working. Wait, but why wasn’t it? Shouldn’t this guy not even remember his own name? Was Luxord joking with him when he said people lose their memories and fall into oblivion in this castle? It made so much sense, considering the name…

“Well, this is bad. You were supposed to forget any of this happened so I could dump you on another member or something,” Demyx pouted. Not the kindest fate to leave someone to, considering which members were either already at the castle or on their way to it, but Demyx couldn’t afford to cart some stranger around. Not when he had a mission (that he was admittedly still trying to find ways out of).

Actually…

“Seriously? Sheesh, I might as well have stayed back in that weird place with all the colors…”

“Say,” Demyx cut off his companion’s complaints. “You’re taking this all pretty well for someone who just traveled through the Betwixt and Between into another world…”

The hitchhiker shrugged.

“My best friend pulls weapons out of thin air. As weird as all this is, I’m just gonna go with it.”

Demyx raised his eyebrows at that. Pulling weapons out of thin air wasn’t exactly uncommon. And seriously, this guy was still pretty laid back considering the circumstances. What _was_ uncommon was the world hopping, after all.

But never mind that. Demyx just found his ticket out of his mission.

“Well, then… If you’re cool with the world hopping, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind trying it out a few more times?”

The hitchhiker sent Demyx another suspicious look.

“You just tried to pass me off to your buddies, or members…whatever they are, and now you’re trying to drag me into your…world hopping? What is that even supposed to mean?” he asked, shoulders tense as if he anticipated a fight. Ha. Not out of Demyx. Although if they stuck around long enough, they might have caught Marluxia’s attention. Then both of their necks would’ve been on the line.

“Look, I’ll explain everything to you, but we should probably get out of here first. I’m not even supposed to be here and I had kinda hope to drop in and drop back out, but I’ve decided that even I’m not cruel enough to leave you with these guys—”

The look of disbelief that crossed the other guy’s face reinforced the unfortunate fact that Demyx was a terrible liar.

“—so I’m just gonna have to take you to another world until we figure out how to get you home.”

The hitchhiker immediately picked up on that last part, and his skeptical expression quickly morphed into horror.

“What do you mean ‘figure out’?! You don’t know how to get back to Lucis?!”

Demyx filed the name of the world, Lucis, away for future reference. Perhaps he could use the Organization’s computer to look it up and find a way back. Or not, now that he thought about it. If he went back to the castle without taking out that heartless, he’d be strung up for sure. For now, though, he needed to focus on his companion who was quickly starting to freak out.

“Oh no, oh no. What am I gonna do now? Crap, what if something happens to the others while I’m gone?!” he mumbled from between clenched teeth, looking for all the world like he was about to have a meltdown. Not good. Demyx was not in the right state of mind to help someone else out of their freak out, when _he_ was still freaking out.

“Wait, hold on, calm down! Look, I don’t know how I got to your world okay? I didn’t create the exit corridor into it. But I’m sure if we try hard enough, we can get back there again! Wha’dya say? It’s better than hanging around here, flipping our lids.”

This would be one of the few times in Demyx’s life in which he could legitimately call himself the voice of reason. Thankfully, it seemed to be working. A little.

The other guy (Demyx really oughta learn his name) stop gasping in short breaths, a spot of hope in his eyes.

“That’s not promising, but it’s better than nothing,” he finally said.

“And then you’ll explain what’s going on right? _You_ _’re not just going to pass me off to someone else right?_ ”

“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Demyx replied, smirking slightly at the irony in his statement. This was working out pretty well, all things considered. He’d get out of his mission, hopefully long enough for Saïx to forget he sent him on it, and also get his hitchhiker back home. Win/win.

“What’s your name, by the way?”

And he and this hitchhiker were on the same page as well. Even better.

“Name’s Demyx,” he answered, holding out his hand with a grin. His hitchhiker hesitantly returned both gestures.

“Prompto.”

Demyx’s grin widened. If there was anything he liked most, it was cooperativeness. Things were looking up.

“Alrighty, Prompto. Let’s get out of here before someone notices our presence. I know just the place to start, too.”

Holding out his hand, Demyx created another corridor of darkness. Prompto’s face dropped a bit at the sight of it.

"We have to go through that again?" he cringed, though he already knew the answer to that.

"It’s the fastest way to get out of here" Demyx shrugged.

Even though Prompto was still clearly apprehensive about the portal, he dutifully followed behind Demyx as they both stepped through.


	3. Twilight Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have no clue how this got so long. It was supposed to be, like, 3,000 words...

“Well… I’m sure this is plenty familiar for you. For me?”

“Not so much, yeah I realized”

Demyx huffed as he finished Prompto’s observation. The two had ended up in Twilight Town, the destination Demyx had in mind when he created a corridor out of Castle Oblivion. Along the way, he had planned to conjure up a corridor to somewhere familiar in the midst of thinking of this Lucis place, possibly taking his hitchhiker back to his home. It was, admittedly, a half-baked plan, but neither of them really had much to work off of.

“So what do we do, now?” Prompto asked after a beat of silence.

“We don’t give up!” Demyx exclaimed. “We’ve gotta get you home! For the sake of the greater good!”

“Still trying to get me out of your hair, huh?”

Okay, so the other guy wasn’t one to be easily fooled. That was alright, Demyx could work with that.

“Well, I’m not wrong am I? You do need to get back home and all,” Demyx said. He was met with a sigh.

“Yeah, you’re right. Honestly, I’m still kicking myself for following you into that portal in the first place…”

And that was another thing that had Demyx on edge. No one just wanders into a corridor of darkness and comes out unscathed. Maybe the first trip wouldn’t have been so bad, but darkness tended to eat away at people when they’re surrounded by it. That was the reason the Organization wore their cloaks after all. Even beings of nothingness could be corrupted by the dark. Yet this guy seemed perfectly fine, despite two consecutive trips through the dark pathways. What sort of magic had this guy been stewing in all his life to be so unaffected?

"So...where are we anyway?" Prompto asked, looking around.

"Twilight Town. Er, well, if I remember correctly, Axel said it was called Twilight Town. I’m not much for exploring different worlds, so it’s my first time here really. I recognize the clock tower he mentioned though."

As if on cue, the clock bell rung six times to announce the time of day…despite the fact that the time of day was _always_ twilight in this world.

"And you didn't bring me here just to dump me off on this Axel guy, right?" Prompto asked, eyebrow raised suspiciously.

"What!? Me? No, I wouldn't do that…again." Demyx replied with a hand over where his heart should have been, affronted. He didn’t blame Prompto for rolling his eyes at the show.

“Look,” Demyx started, “I get it. You’ve got no reason to trust me. But I’m telling you, I have no intention of dumping you off somewhere. I’m really gonna get you home. It honestly wouldn’t feel right not to.”

He didn’t mention that Prompto was also a suitable method of procrastination, but he figured his hitchhiker didn’t really need to know, and Prompto didn’t seem too bothered to ask further. Instead he watched Demyx for a moment longer, still slightly skeptical, before nodding and taking his word for it. Besides, it wasn’t like he had much of a choice than to go along with Demyx if he ever wanted to see his world again. Satisfied with the other’s acquiescence, Demyx took a moment to take in his surroundings. It looked like they were at a train station. There was a path that seemed like it would lead into town, however, so he started in that direction.

“Uh, where are we going?” Prompto asked as he followed curiously.

“You can’t just pop in and out of portals over and over again. That’s dangerous even for _me_ ,” Demyx explained. “While we’re here, we might as well stock up, perform some recon, you know…the works.”

“Stock up? What for?”

“Well…I have no idea how to get to this Lucis place, so we’re just gonna have to keep trying different worlds until we get lucky and a path opens up to yours.”

Prompto’s lips pressed into a thin line. Demyx quickly threw his hands up, placating.

“I know, I know, I know! It sucks, but it’s the best we can do! We might as well make the best of it, right?” Demyx said, half tripping over his words. He’d caught sight of the gun on his hitchhiker’s belt and hoped that Prompto wasn’t trigger happy. Thankfully, he made no move towards his weapon, instead shaking his head.

“You’re right. If you’re gonna get me home… _somehow_ , then we gotta do this your way.”

Demyx smiled at that. A reasonable hitchhiker. Far different from his fellow Organization members, who all generally had hair trigger tempers and were all too happy to alieve their frustrations with violence. Although Prompto did pull something out of his pocket instead. Demyx stared in question at the rectangular device.

“What’s that?” he asked as Prompto held the device up. The same device he had chased Demyx through the corridor of darkness with. There was a flash and the sound of a shutter. “A camera?”

Weirdest camera Demyx had ever seen.

“Nah, I was a bit of an idiot and forgot my camera at the camp. We weren’t far from it though, thankfully, and were just heading back when you popped up. I gotta use my phone to take pics now.”

Scratch that, weirdest _phone_ Demyx had ever seen. And why the heck was it taking pictures?!

“Uh, aren’t you supposed to call people on a phone? I’ve never seen one take pictures…”

Prompto scooted closer to Demyx, showing him the face of the phone. Which looked like a giant screen. On the screen was a photo of the train station from their position at the top of the pathway.

“Wow. That’s not something you see every day…” Demyx whistled, his eyebrows raised at the screen of this…phone, having taken a photo as clearly as any camera would. Definitely weird.

“I’m guessing you guys are a bit behind on technology if you’ve never seen a phone like this…” Prompto grinned. Demyx nodded in agreement.

“Guess so. I’ve never seen this in any of the worlds I’ve been to. It almost looks like a little computer. But it takes pictures.”

Prompto looked intrigued at the admission.

“Any chance I might see what your computers are like?” he asked. Demyx was already shaking his head before the end of the sentence.

“The only computer I know is in my world. The World that Never Was. I’m…trying not to go back quite so soon.”

“What, are you a runaway?” Prompto asked.

“No,” Demyx sighed. “But once I do go back, I’ll probably be in some trouble.” He hoped Prompto couldn’t hear his slight gulp at the thought of Saïx finding him when he realized Demyx never completed his mission. Thankfully Prompto dropped the subject, shrugging as he took a few more pictures of their surroundings. He looked excited as he took photos. Demyx didn’t have the heart (ha ha) to tell him how bad of an idea it was to carry evidence of other worlds on his person. Instead, he continued forward, observing every little thing about Twilight Town. He’d never really seen much of this this particular world before. Sure he, along with a lot of the other Organization members had been here before, but at a time so close to rebirth as a nobody, he would’ve been just as zombified as Roxas. No way would he remember anything about this place. He had little reason to come back to it, after all.

Nonetheless, he wanted to check the world out for himself now. He’d been one of the few trained directly in the castle, being too scared at the time to travel to other worlds without knowing how to defend himself.

It was a nice little town, for what it was. The endless twilight bathed the buildings in a soft, orange glow, giving everything a warm, homely feeling. The laughter of children was heard further down the street and there wasn’t a heartless in sight at the moment. It was comfortable, Demyx decided. He ought to visit the town more often.

Prompto, on the other hand, was in complete awe. While the warm feeling the town gave off didn’t escape him, it was drowned out by the novelty of being in another world entirely. The buildings were nothing like the skyscrapers of Insomnia. There was no harsh city feel, no beeping car horns, no heavy traffic, no large crowds… If anything, the town had a historical aura about it. The roads were paved stone, and the buildings simple brick. Even the sign posts were wooden, though Prompto hadn’t a clue what they said. It was odd, actually, that he could understand Demyx and even the townsfolk perfectly but couldn’t read their language.

And the townsfolk themselves. They were surprisingly friendly. It wasn’t as if people in Insomnia were all constantly rude or anything, but this level of friendliness was few and far between there. Everyone in this town greeted Prompto and Demyx and earned enthused greetings back, despite the fact that Demyx would mumble to himself occasionally that he was being seen by too many people. Prompto wouldn’t question it. His new companion was a weird guy anyway. But he seemed to know where he was going and Prompto didn’t really have anyone else to rely on in this strange new place.

It was just so… _different_. The way time seemed to hang at one point (and he’d noticed that the sun did indeed stay in the same position as they walked) despite the constant activity surrounding them. It wasn’t suffocating, like the big city, but it felt busy. Lived in. There were small children hitting a ball into the air with a bat as they laughed excitedly. There was an old woman posting flyers up for what looked like some sort of event. There were shops running along the sides of the streets where small crowds gathered to handle their business. There was a group of teenagers chattering as they emerged from a small alleyway. They didn’t look like they were up to no good, they were just enjoying themselves. Prompto decided that this town…this world was pleasant. If they were all like this, maybe jumping through worlds as they tried to find his home wouldn’t be so bad.

“Hey, check it out! Looks like this is the Tram Common!” Demyx called back to Prompto. He’d gotten quite a bit farther ahead, mostly due to the gunner’s gawking at everything in sight. Prompto ran to catch up to his companion with questioning eyes.

“Tram common?”

“Yeah, this whole area is Market Street. But what we need is out in the Tram Common. Should be close enough to walk. Plus, I’m not exactly rolling in dough, so riding the tram is a bit of a no-no right now…” Demyx explained. It all mostly went over Prompto’s head however. A tram? What was he on about?

However, as they stepped out into the Tram Common, he got his answer. Once again, he was hit with wonder as he stared at the street cars –or trams, he supposed they were called here– rolling slowly through the streets. Street cars hadn’t been in service in Insomnia in _decades_. It was truly like he was stepping into the past. His little techie heart was fluttering with glee. He turned to Demyx, practically humming with excitement.

“We should ride in one!”

“… But I just said—”

“I know, I know! No cash. But maybe if we snuck on one…”

Demyx raised his eyebrows, looking between Prompto and the tracks. Finally, he grinned.

“I like your style. Okay, we can sneak on the back of one. But I really am hurting for potions, so we should get off by the item shop,” he finally said. Prompto nodded in agreement.

“No, I know. Gotta be responsible and ‘replenish our curatives’,” he quoted. Demyx hadn’t known who was being quoted but he laughed anyway.

“Ha! Of course we do! Besides, this is one of the few times you’ll ever see me being responsible anyway. At least it’s for something important!”

Alright, so Demyx was indeed a weird guy. But Prompto could easily see himself getting along with him. He was pretty quirky, all things considered. But Prompto enjoyed the odd personality types.

“Ah. Here’s one of the trams now,” he said, pointing to a tan colored street car ambling slowly up to them. It stopped as a few people got out, likely heading up Market Street as they moved towards Demyx and Prompto. The two cut through the crowd, taking a seat on the back of the car and holding on to the handles as it started up again.

“So tell me,” Prompto started. “If it’s never completely dark here, what do you need potions for? And how do they even work?”

It was foreign to Prompto that potions could exist without Lucian magic, but then…just about everything that has happened after he entered that black portal had been foreign to him. He figured it was best to keep an open mind and simply learn more about this world. Or whatever worlds they might end up in…

“Hmm? Potions are just that. They’re brewed by mages and sold in bottles as fast acting medicine. How do they work in your world?”

“Uh…well, we don’t brew potions. They’re just energy drinks. The power of the royal family is what makes them heal.”

“Weird…” Demyx pursed his lips. Prompto could attest the same thing to mages brewing potions. It sounded like something out of a fairytale.

“Say, what’d you mean about it not being completely dark anyway? What’s that matter?” he continued.

“Okay, I’m just gonna not assume anything about this world. So I’m guessing daemons don’t come out at night?” Prompto asked.

“I don’t know anything about demons… But it doesn’t exactly need to be night for heartless to show up.”

“Heartless?”

“Yup. They’re essentially what happens when a person loses their heart. That heart becomes a monster. A heartless. And then it goes and creates more heartless by taking people’s hearts. I guess since they come from darkness, it’d make sense to associate them with night maybe. But the sun ain’t exactly gonna stop them,” he explained. Prompto shivered at the explanation. And he thought daemons were bad… He’d never heard of any of those stealing people’s hearts.

“Sounds terrifying.”

“Oh, there’s worse out there…” Demyx ominously stated. Before Prompto could ask, he shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it, though. We’re most likely gonna run into heartless out in the worlds. Makes healing items necessary, but it shouldn’t be anything we can’t handle.”

Demyx looked Prompto over, his eyes lingering on his gun.

“Assuming you can use that well…”

Prompto grinned in reassurance.

“Don’t worry. I’m a crack shot.”

“Heh. I think you’d get along with Xigbar. Wait no. I take that back. No one really gets along with Xigbar…”

Prompto figured it was probably best not to ask who Xigbar was then. Such odd names these guys had. Instead he busied himself with looking over the street car as it started moving again. It was really a marvel being able to sit in one of them. The most he’d ever seen of a street car before was when his high school took a trip to the museum of industry. And the thing was ancient. And well…he could admit he’d spent more time goofing off with Noct than paying attention to the exhibits. But this was truly a novelty. To imagine that people in this world saw this as mundane too… How would they react to his world, he wondered. Could they trade all this open space and this homely feeling for a city that never sleeps? Or slept, rather. He didn’t want to think about what state the crown city could possibly be in now…

Despite Demyx’s claims of getting off by the item shop, the two ended up in a circuit around the Tram Common, giving Prompto ample time to observe more of his surroundings. He pulled out his phone again to snap a few more pictures, but for the most part he simply absorbed everything he saw. There were houses sprinkled together in residential areas, people ambling about as they readied to head home, one old lady even giving them disapproving looks as she caught sight of them huddled in the back of the street car. At one point, there was even a significantly large hole in the wall, leading into a darkened area filled with what looked like trees. Prompto wasn’t exactly eager to find out for himself. He didn’t do well with crawling through cramped places. Instead, he and Demyx simply enjoyed the ride for as long as they could before the street car made its full circuit. After a while, the area started to look familiar again.

“Hey, it’s getting late. Might wanna hop off,” Demyx said as he stretched. Prompto wasn’t even sure how he knew what time of day it was, considering the sun was almost constantly in twilight. Hell, if there was one thing that made him uncomfortable about the town, it was how it constantly lingered on the cusp of darkness. Nothing good came out of nighttime; at least not for him. He hopped off the tram alongside Demyx anyway, happy to stretch his legs again. Sitting crammed up into the back of a street car wasn’t the most comfortable position to be in. They seemed to be closer to the section of the common that they first started in, which at least meant they had a smaller chance of getting lost before they found their way back to Market Street.

“Um…the item shop would probably be somewhere over this way…” Demyx said as he started walking in a direction. The lack of confidence in his tone wasn’t encouraging, but then it wasn’t like Prompto could do any better. He simply followed. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Demyx’s face to light up in recognition.

“Aha! Here we are. Twilight Town’s one and only item shop. And look! The moogle’s still got it open this time of evening,” Demyx said, tugging slightly at Prompto’s arm as he dragged him towards the circular building sitting near the street car tracks. Prompto had seen it as they passed it during their ride, but hadn’t even thought to associate it with being an item shop.

An item shop that sold…moogles?

“Uh, moogle? We’re looking at stuffed animals?” Prompto asked, eyebrows raised in confusion. Demyx mirrored the look.

“Stuffed animals? What’re you talking about?”

Prompto opened his mouth to answer, before it quickly snapped shut as the weirdest sound he had ever heard came from the shop front. It was almost like a squeak and yet…distinctly not.

He jumped slightly when he heard it again and Demyx snorted.

“Dude, what’s the freak out for? It’s just the moogle.”

Demyx’s thumb jerked in the direction of the shop the two stood in front of and Prompto was greeted with an even weirder sight. As if a stuffed toy had come alive, there floated what looked like a moogle plush. Its purple wings fluttered lazily, only barely keeping it afloat. Its red pom-pom bounced with every moment of its round head. And though its eyes were closed, it seemed to be staring at them. Impatiently.

“You two gonna buy something or what?”

Prompto had to double-take at the moogle with wide eyes. It had just spoken. Moogles don’t speak. Moogles are held under the arms of small children. Because they’re toys. Sure, some of them might squeak if a squeaker was put inside them before hand, but they never went—

“What’s the big idea, kupo?”

Kupo. That’s what it sounded like. Kupo…

“Uh, I don’t know what’s going on with him, but yeah we are here to buy some stuff. Some potions, some panaceas… _maybe_ some ethers if I’ve got the cash,” Demyx answered as he checked his pockets and pulled out a small pouch. He peaked inside it with a frown before looking back up at the moogle.

“Okay, forget the ethers…”

Prompto would’ve laughed if he wasn’t still dumbfounded by the fact that the moogle was alive in the first place. In the back of his mind, he figured the stuffed animal must’ve been based off of something, but it never really occurred to him that he would actually see the source of inspiration. Or that it would glare at him.

Seriously, how was it doing that? Its eyes weren’t even open.

“You just gonna keep standing there, kupo? I got a business to run here, kupo!”

Prompto didn’t get a chance to answer before Demyx grabbed his items, leaving his coins on the counter, and started to push him along.

“We’re going, we’re going! Sheesh…the moogle back home isn’t this hostile. Then again, the only one who visits him is Roxas, so I guess he’s too busy sulking most of the time.”

Prompto wasn’t even sure what to say to all of this. This was the biggest information overload he’d ever experienced in his life. First he’s jumping through portals to other worlds, then riding on transportation that had gone out of use before he was even born, learning about strange creatures that steal people’s hearts, and now he’s meeting talking moogles? He was half expecting to wake up on the floor of a tent in Digythe Haven, wondering what the hell he ate the previous night to make him dream all of this up, only to find that Noct and Gladio had drawn on his face while he slept or something. He supposed that maybe if he was dreaming, he could take all this information in stride because what would it matter if he’s back in regular old Lucis the next morning, eating Iggy’s cooking and looking through yesterday’s pictures. But then this felt all too real to truly be a dream. There was no mistaking the homely feeling of the buildings, or the serene street car ride. There was no way he could make any of this up. He even had proof that he was truly here in another world! And speaking of…

Pulling himself out of Demyx’s grip, Prompto raised his phone towards the grumpy moogle and snapped a photo. It seemed to know what he was doing as it raised a tiny fuss (a series of kupos) before ducking below the store front. There was a clicking of a tongue, and Prompto turned to find Demyx shaking his head at him.

“Probably not a good idea to piss a moogle off. Trust me, I would know…”

Prompto raised an eyebrow at that.

“Why? What’d you do?”

“You don’t want to know, and I don’t want to remember,” he shuddered. Prompto’s eyebrow raised further, but he dropped the subject. He wasn’t even sure how taking a picture of a moogle would piss it off, but then he was still getting used to the fact that it was a living creature. Maybe it just didn’t like having its picture taken?

Honestly, his phone was just about the only thing keeping him grounded at this point. The novelty of the quaint little town wore off quickly when it hit him that he wasn’t just sight-seeing another world. He was experiencing it. He could interact with any of these people…or non-people, judging by the talking stuffed animals. And here he was expecting it to be a normal shop. Like walking into a Coernix station, spending some gil and rolling out. He didn’t even recognize the currency Demyx used to pay the moogle.

It was still tripping him out that a moogle owned a shop.

Clearly he had a lot more to learn about these different worlds.

“Seriously, why do you look so freaked out? She’s just a moogle. She might be grumpy, but they’re not all like that… Unless, they are where you come from…?” Demyx asked, scratching at the back of his head.

“No, I… They exist, but not as living things. Moogles are just stuffed toys in Lucis. Never seen a real one…” Prompto finally answered after some hesitation.

“Really? That’s what you meant about stuffed animals, huh… Your world’s an interesting place…”

_Interesting_ couldn’t begin to describe what all of this was for Prompto.

“Well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to my interesting world, so…” Prompto started. Demyx nodded along.

“Of course, of course! Uh…let’s go somewhere where we can’t be seen. Who knows what sort if chaos it would cause if I made a corridor here,” he said, starting in another direction. They were moving away from the more populated areas, heading up Market Street before turning down another more deserted street that opened up into a small secluded area.

“Perfect!” Demyx exclaimed.

Prompto looked around at the enclosed area, noting that it lead to another small street, more of an alley than a street, at the far end. There was an elevated square structure in the middle of it, with a white board shoved off to the side displaying markings that looked like some sort of display. Like a sport, or a game.

“Okay, I’ll make the corridor over here, and then we can ju—”

“What’s this?”

Demyx choked a bit as he was cut off by a new voice and the two spun around to find its source. Before them stood four teenagers(?). The one in the middle seemed to be the leader, Prompto noted, as he stood before the other three with a confidant air. Prompto figured he must have been pretty confidant to walk out of his house wearing a beanie and a sleeveless trench coat. Didn’t his mother teach him better?

The other three weren’t much better off in not appearing ridiculous. While they were dressed normally, the girl seemed to trying her hardest to put permanent frown lines on her face. The other guy, tall and stubbled as if he wanted to look older than he clearly was, wasn’t even looking at Prompto and Demyx. He was staring into space. The last one…wait. _What is that?_

Is that a person?

…Is that actually a person?

“Maybe they’re new to town, Seifer?”

Well, it just spoke. Sounded like a little boy.

And just when Prompto thought he had seen it all…

The leader of the rag-tag group, Seifer, simply snorted at his companions answer.

“No newcomers come to my town without paying up first.”

At this, Demyx took a bit of initiative as he piped up.

“Uh, sorry bro, but we’re broke. So, maybe you could shake down some other poor loser while we make our escape?” he pitched hopefully. It didn’t work.

Prompto covered his face as the other four started laughing. Well, three of them were laughing and the weird kid with the glowing yellow eyes was just trying too hard. How’d he end up running with that crowd anyway? Did they black mail him? They sounded like the type if they were charging people to simply enter the town. Besides, if Demyx was broke, then Prompto was the definition of the word. He had only recently figured out how currency worked outside of the crown city, no way did he have any of those coins he saw Demyx use. He turned to his companion and nudged him.

“Dude, usually people don’t announce that they’re running,” he mumbled to Demyx.

“Yeah, you’re right about that,” was his only answer. And they still weren’t running.

Why were they still there?

“Okay, so can we—”

Seifer interrupted them again.

“Hey, quit with the whispering! If you can’t pay the Disciplinary Committee, you can earn your right to be here in a Struggle match. Otherwise, you can beat it!” he exclaimed, jerking his thumb back towards Market Street to demonstrate exactly where he expected them to beat it to.

“Oh, well, we were just leavin—”

“Struggle?”

Demyx, no.

“What’s that?”

Demyx, no!

“Don’t know what Struggle is? Geez, did you guys grow up under a rock?” Seifer mussed, turning to his friends as they all entered what looked like a discussion. Or what would have been a discussion if the little kid was actually able to get a word in while the three others whispered to one another. Exceptionally loud exclamations of ‘ya know’ were distinguishable from the tall kid in the red tank top. Finally, they seemed to come to some sort of agreement before turning their attention back to Demyx and Prompto.

“Well, how about you play us and you’ll find out? Here, Fuu will explain the rules to you,” Seifer finally said as he nodded his head towards the silver-haired girl. Her red eye, the visible one, narrowed even more and she punched her fist into the palm of her left hand.

“Pain,” she said. That was all she said. It got the idea across pretty well though.

“No one’s won a match against Seifer, ya know?” the other boy added, the proudest grin adorning his face. Prompto turned to Demyx, wondering what they were supposed to make of the situation. Except Demyx wasn’t there. He was running towards the alleyway at the other end, screaming “Run, run away!”

Prompto turned back to the group of teenagers (plus weird kid without a face) with a nervous laugh.

“Umm…I’m with him so…”

He didn’t bother finishing. He chased after Demyx instead. Behind him, Seifer was shouting indignantly.

“Yeah, you chickenwusses, you better run!”

Prompto had no clue what in the hell a chickenwuss was and he wasn’t sticking around to find out. Thankfully, Demyx hadn’t gotten too far ahead. While there was only one alleyway so far, Prompto wasn’t exactly keen on getting lost in the town. Or worse: stuck. He quickly caught up to Demyx, counting his blessings that he became such a good runner after all those years, before grabbing him by his hood.

“What’s the deal, man?! You’re my only way outta here!” he huffed. Demyx had surged backwards, losing his balance for a moment, before turning towards Prompto with a sheepish smile.

“Sorry. I don’t do so well with confrontation…”

Says the guy who asked what a game called ‘Struggle’ was…

“Alright then. Whatever. Let’s just get out of here. We should be fine going through that funky portal now, right?” Prompto sighed.

“Oh yeah, definitely! We’ve been here pretty long. It shouldn’t be a problem to head out again.”

Demyx looked around for a moment, getting a feel for where they ended up. They could both still hear the voices of the strange quartet from the lot and they sounded to be getting closer. Neither in the mood to get caught up in the group’s weirdness again, Demyx started further into the alley with Prompto on his heels. The area was dark and empty enough to provide cover for Demyx to create his portal, but they continued on until they reached a fenced off area in the corner of the alley, just to be safe. After checking their surroundings once more, Demyx raised his hand to create his portal.

So, of course, they were interrupted yet again.

“Huh? What are you guys doing here?”

Both boys jumped at the new voice, yet again, before turning to find a plump teenage boy with black hair, holding what looked like a camera in his hand. Prompto’s eyes were immediately drawn to it and a tiny part of him lit up with glee. It, like the street car, was the equivalent of antique in his home world. The sort of camera he saw on old tv shows he used to watch as a child…and maybe still watched as a guilty pleasure sometimes. He could feel his fingers itching with the need to at least hold the device.

“Dude. Please tell me where I could find a camera like that!” he gushed, ready to tinker with it and see what sort of photos he might get out of it. Filters were one thing, but there was a certain unique feel to old timey cameras and the pictures they could take.

“Uhhh. I got this as a present from my dad last year. Said he got it from out of town, but never said where exactly. Why?” the boy asked, scratching his head as his previous question was ignored. He didn’t seem to mind though as Prompto’s fanboying started to take over.

“I’m a bit of a tech nerd. My camera’s pretty up-to-date, but I’d totally go for one like that one,” he said as he pointed to the one in the boy’s hands. His eyes lit up at the revelation of Prompto being a techie.

"That's so cool! I’ve seen a few of the newer models on the market, but they’re pretty expensive. For now, I’m happy with just this one. Wish I could tell you where Dad got it, if you’re looking for one,” the boy smiled sheepishly.

“I’d lo— well, actually, it’s probably best I don’t go looking for it. But…well…would it, uh…”

Prompto’s lack of articulation didn’t seem to deter the boy from catching his meaning, as he likely saw the glances Prompto shot at his camera. Smiling, he graciously held it out.

“Here, you can check it out if you want. Name’s Pence, by the way" the boy said as he handed the camera over, finally introducing himself.

"I'm Prompto and that's Demyx,” Prompto responded, nodding his head over at Demyx who seemed to be almost twitching in his readiness to leave. Prompto sent him a mental apology, but he couldn’t exactly help himself. He marveled over the camera in his hands, kicking himself yet again at his absentmindedness for forgetting his own camera. He _never_ forgets his camera. Not even when his group paid a visit to Titan. Why now of all times he would leave it at camp baffled even him. _Especially him_.

Pence seemed to notice the near-reverent way Prompto examined the technology in his hands, and he scratched at his chin for a moment before making a decision.

"Hey, since you're interested in technology, I figured I might throw this out there. Apparently, there's a rumor going around that the old mansion in the woods houses a really powerful computer. I heard it from my buddy Hayner, who heard it from Rai, who heard it from Vivi, who usually hangs out in those woods when he wants to practice his Struggle skills," Pence explained.

"No way! I gotta see that!" Prompto exclaimed, eyes wide. He didn’t recognize any of those names, but he was willing to take the kid’s words for it. He was more than a little curious what computers from this world would be like after seeing their street cars and cameras. And as a bonus, he didn’t have to try to bug Demyx later about seeing the one in his world, which he was sure his companion would be grateful for.

"We’re agreed there! I’d go with you guys and check the place out myself, but my dad would skin my hide if he caught me hanging around the old mansion at this time of night. If you don’t know where it is, which I guess you might not since,” Pence looked the two of them over with a skeptical eyebrow raised, “you guys don’t really look like you’re from around here, I can tell you. The mansion is on the far side of town, through the hole in the wall in Tram Common, if you want to go check it out.”

Yes! Yes Prompto very much did want to check it out! He felt a little bad, taking a detour like this when they were already trying to leave, but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity as far as he knew! He had to see what it was like, at least once…

“We’ll head over there then! Thanks for the info!” Prompto decided excitedly. Pence returned his eager smile.

“Happy to help! Anyway, it was awesome meeting you but I gotta head home," Pence said as he started up the back alley in the direction of what looked like Market Street, waving goodbye to them.

Demyx turned to Prompto.

“Dude.”

Prompto decided now was a good time to turn on the puppy dog eyes.

"C’mon man, please? _Pleeease_?" he begged. He wasn’t on his knees yet, but it was an option up in the air.

"Aren’t _you_ the one trying to get home? Not that I’m all that opposed to wasting time, but we’ve been here pretty long, don’cha think?" Demyx stated. He glanced around slowly, a lazy look on his face, but it looked as if he was searching for someone. Or expecting them to be there. Maybe Prompto could use that to his advantage.

“Hey, we’ve been interrupted twice now. Maybe this old mansion is the perfect place to leave. If all we’re hearing are rumors of it then I doubt anyone lives there or visits often! We can bounce without even being seen!” Prompto tried to reason with him.

“And you can look at a computer.”

“And that too. Yup.”

Demyx let out a long suffering sigh, grumbling about walking or some such. Prompto knew the feeling. His noodle legs did not appreciate the hiking he was subjected to in his own world, and walking across town if they couldn’t hitch another ride didn’t exactly sound appealing. But he’d be damned if he didn’t see that computer first.

“Fine, alright. We’ll go to the mansion, you can nerd out, then we can head out.”

“Works for me!” Prompto grinned, grabbing Demyx’s sleeve and dragging him in the same direction Pence had gone.

“Think we’ll be able to hitch another ride on one of the stree—trams over to the woods?” he asked as they stepped out back onto Market Street. Demyx shrugged.

“As much as it really, really… _really_ pains me to say this, we’d better hoof it. I don’t know about you, but I can’t exactly handle getting chased down by the authorities. Whoever the authorities may be…”

Prompto thought back to the boy Seifer’s words, about being in a Disciplinary Committee, and shuddered. He didn’t want to get caught up in that either.

Instead, they walked back through the Tram Common, following the tracks though the marketplace and later the residential area until, finally, they arrived at the hole in the wall they had passed by earlier. The trees beyond looked rather ominous, being the only dark place he’d seen so far in a world of perpetual twilight, but Prompto wasn’t going to stop for some dark woods. Demyx, on the other hand, seemed a little bit more apprehensive about entering the new area.

“So, uh, you go ahead. I’ll just…wait here…”

Just a little bit.

“Come on,” Prompto said, rolling his eyes. Once again, he grabbed Demyx’s sleeve as he pulled him through the hole and over to the other side.

“Why me? We don’t even know what’s in here!” Demyx whined. He didn’t put up much of a fight though, surprisingly.

“What are you expecting to even find in here?” Prompto asked.

“What if there are heartless?”

That gave Prompto pause. They had yet to run into the heart-stealing creatures Demyx had mentioned and he wasn’t exactly eager to start now. His giddiness upon entering the woods waned quickly, giving way to apprehension. He was still armed, of course, and wasn’t running out of ammo any time soon. But he had been rather glad so far to not have found a reason to use it. And, honestly? Guns weren’t exactly the strongest weapons to use against daemons. Who knew how effectively they’d work against these monsters that stole hearts?

Regardless, the duo pressed on through the woods, having already made the effort to walk across town to reach them. Arriving at the mansion gates, the two were greeted with iron bars and a lock. Beyond loomed the large mansion itself. It looked decrepit, as if no one had been to it in ages. No residents, no visitors, not even a janitor. The bricks were weathered and layered with dirt, the windows cracked (one in the second floor was even missing, with only a white curtain blowing through it), the air stale as if nothing living had ventured close to the place. Prompto was ready to admit even he was having second thoughts about going through the mansion just to see a computer. He turned to Demyx again, just in time to see him trying to sneak away. Prompto quickly made a grab for him.

“Oh no ya don’t! You don’t seriously expect me to go in there by myself! I don’t even know how to get in!” he said, dragging Demyx back by his hood. The other boy was pouting.

“What’dya expect me to do about it?”

“A hell of a lot more than I can do, World Jumper.”

Demyx contemplated his words for a quick moment.

“You have a point.”

He lifted a hand to create a portal, and Prompto held his own up in quick response.

“What, we’re leaving already?”

“Huh? No, I thought you wanted to get into the mansion. We don’t exactly have a handy Roxas around with his handy keyblade, so I gotta make a portal to the other side.”

“…”

“What?”

“You couldn’t do that before we walked over here?” Prompto sighed. Demyx sighed as well.

“Sadly, no. I can get to a specific spot in a world if I’ve been there before, but otherwise it’s a shot in the dark and we could end up anywhere. Since I’ve never been here, I couldn’t exactly make a portal directly to an area I’ve never seen. …At least, I think I’ve never seen it. Huh…”

“Uh, I’ll take your word for it.”

Prompto looked over the portal once again, even more apprehensive.

“And you’re sure you’re not taking us to another world?”

“What you don’t trust me?” Demyx asked, a friendly, open smile on his face.

Prompto stared at him blankly.

“Point taken,” Demyx nodded. “Don’t worry. For some weird reason, you seem more excited about this computer than getting home, so who am I to say no?”

Prompto flinched slightly at Demyx’s words. Nonchalant as they were, they stung a bit when said out loud. Really, he should be trying his hardest to get home. Not wandering around strange towns looking at computers. Demyx seemed to catch on to the effect of his jab, however, and quickly backpedaled.

“Hey, I get not wanting to go home just yet! This is all new and exciting, yeah? I don’t blame you for wanting to check it out before going back to the regular routine. So, c’mon. One more adventure before we leave,” he laughed, nodding his head towards the portal. Demyx sent another searching look at Demyx before walking into the portal. Demyx followed behind, the portal behind them closing as another opened in front of them.

“Is this okay?” Prompto asked as they walked towards it. “I thought jumping through portals over and over again was a bad thing.”

“It is. But it’s not like we’ve been doing it in rapid succession all day. We get in, we see the computer, we get out. Easy peesy.”

As he said this, they both stepped out into the mansion courtyard on the other side of the gate. The portal closed behind them again and they continued on into the mansion. Thankfully the door was unlocked (not surprisingly though, considering the gate) and they easily stepped inside. It would’ve been quite the disappointment if they found out they still couldn’t go inside after all that.

The space inside wasn’t much better off than the mansion exterior. The place looked like a tornado had been through it. Various items were strewn across the floor, laying in broken glass and wood. A few were even set up against some doors. The lighting was dim, so much so that Prompto didn’t even bother pulling out his phone for a picture, and a draft was constantly felt blowing through the foyer. What was most surprising of all, however, were the footprints tracked through the dust leading up the right side of the stairs. There was a thin layer of dust over those as well, indicating that they weren’t entirely recent. Whoever was there had probably come and gone a week or more before he and Demyx ended up in there. That gave him enough incentive to follow the footsteps.

“Come on, let’s see where these lead.”

“We’re _following_ the creepy footprints?” Demyx complained, sticking close to Prompto as they walked up the staircase to the right. Said footprints led into a door tucked into the wall. The duo entered slowly, just in case whoever the prints belonged to was still there, however slim the chance might be. Instead, they were met with another surprise.

“This place gets weirder and weirder,” Prompto said, taking in the room before them. The top floor of the room was similar to the foyer of the mansion, beige and barren save for a few bookshelves lined with fraying books and statue in between two of the cases. It’s snout pointed downward, straight into the odd portion of the room. That was the lower floor, grey and metallic and lined with pipes.

“Ha. Just like home. Can we go now?” came Demyx’s squeak. Prompto sent him back a raised eyebrow, for both his tone and his comment.

“What are you so scared of? And what did you mean by ‘reminds you of home’?”

“What am I scared of? Maybe dark, creepy places with ominous foot prints?”

“Well…you have a point…” Prompto agreed. He had to agree with that. Dark, creepy places made his skin crawl. And ominous footsteps made it worse.

“Oh course I have a point! Which is why we should leave!”

“But… Computer…”

Demyx’s sigh this time was loud and exasperated, but Prompto wasn’t letting up just yet. Even _he’d_ been surprised at the lengths he’d go to when faced with new and interesting tech. He thought back to the stake-out he’d held in front of the game shop when a new console was released years prior. It wasn’t an event he was proud of. He’d specifically asked Noctis never to speak of that night to anyone.

Besides, the room they were in was barren. Creepy, sure, but devoid of life. What truly freaked Prompto out about dark places wasn’t even an issue in this daemon-less world. The cramped part, he could live without, but the room was spacious enough. There was even a door just below the top floor entrance, leading into another room. Though, when the duo walked in, they found that it was much smaller and quite a bit more cramped. And for no small reason.

“Looks like we found that computer,” Demyx nearly whispered. Fitting that he would lower his voice, seeing as the atmosphere had grown still. The duo stared in wonder at what had to have been the strangest computer Prompto had ever seen. There were multiple screens all hanging from the wall and hooked up to large cords that ran along the entirety of the room. The screens were black, indicating that the computer wasn’t on, and there were boxes placed haphazardly all over the floor as if the set up was recent. Judging from the footprints, it probably was. With the sheer number, no wonder there were rumors floating around the thing. It couldn’t have been the most discreet process, dragging that thing into the mansion.

And honestly, it was so alien looking that there was no way it couldn’t have drawn attention.

“So…”

Prompto turned his head slightly in Demyx’s direction, half listening while he continued to examine the computer.

“You asked why this place reminded me of home. This is why. This is just like my world…”

That only intrigued Prompto more. A world of technology. If anything…that was more than a bit like his own home as well.

“So then, do you know how to turn it on?” Prompto chanced. The computer was far different from anything he’d ever seen and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get it running.

“Uh, no clue dude. I’m not really the sort of guy who meshes with tech. Music is my way of life,” Demyx answered, shaking his head. Prompto chuckled at the wording, but he was slightly disappointed. Meant he had to do this the hard way.

“Alright. Well then, let’s figure this baby out,” he said, cracking his fingers before he began to tinker with the keys, seeing no tower with any power buttons readily available. For a world that didn’t have cameras on their phones, this was far more advanced than he’d expected.

“You sure seem excited about this. What’s got you so interested in computers?” Demyx asked as he watched Prompto work.

“I’ve always been into this kind of stuff. Kinda like how music is your life, mine is seeing how things tick. Though I’m not quite as into computers as I am cameras. Been my thing since childhood, taking photos and all that.”

“Yeah, I’d noticed the picture thing. I’m surprised you haven’t snapped a photo of all this yet.”

Which reminded Prompto…

Standing up from his efforts for a moment, he pulled out his phone, turned on the flash, and snapped a quick picture of the set up. It didn’t turn out very well at all. The flash was necessary for the phone to even pick up an image, but it marred the entire thing, creating an ugly white glow around the monitors and a reflection of the light from Prompto’s phone on the screens. But it was a picture nonetheless, and he couldn’t say he was the perfect photographer after all. Shrugging and pocketing his phone, he set back to getting the computer to even turn on.

“What do you think you’ll find on there once it’s on?” Demyx asked, not willing to stand in silence in the already stale atmosphere.

“I don’t know. But maybe it might have information on Eos. I mean, it’s worth a shot to find out, right?”

“Eos?”

“My home…world.”

“I thought it was called Lucis…”

“Um, that’s just the kingdom I live in. The world itself is called Eos though.”

“Huh…” Demyx scratched at his nose, taking the information in. “Weird.”

Prompto rolled his eyes at that. Everything he’s encountered so far was what’s weird. Demyx included.

“And really think you’ll find information on it in this computer?” Demyx asked.

“Do I think so? Not really. But I can hope. And hey, maybe it’ll help you figure out how to get there.”

“Yeah, maybe it’ll explain that freaky magic you guys have going on.”

Seriously. This was coming from a guy who made dark portals into other worlds. And he thinks Lucis is freaky…

“Oh, it’s doing something!”

Prompto turned, surprised, to find each separate monitor humming with life. Their screens flickered with a bluish-white light and words appeared on the center screen shortly after. Prompto sent a questioning gaze to Demyx, wondering what it said.

“Password. Huh, looks like you need one of those…”

Well, wasn’t that peachy. Prompto wasn’t even sure how he turned the thing on, being unable to read the keys. No way was he going to figure out a password.

“So, what’cha gonna do?” Demyx asked. Prompto didn’t answer, not sure what he _could_ do. And he doubted whoever owned the computer was gonna just pop up and hand over the password, considering they went to such lengths as to hide the thing in a decrepit mansion behind a locked gate. Shaking his head, he turned to his companion to try and trade ideas before Demyx held a hand up to him. He lifted his other forefinger to his lips in a shushing moment, setting off alarms in Prompto’s head as he nodded and slowly reached for his gun. They both went quiet, the only noise being the humming of the computer. But Demyx’s head was cocked towards the doorway, as if he heard something else.

“You hear that?” he whispered, confirming Prompto’s suspicions. Prompto shook his head again. He couldn’t hear anything beyond the humming noise. But then, he didn’t really know what he was listening for. Demyx seemed to recognize it though, his face switching from cautious to outright worried. He hunched into himself, eyes wide, and started mumbling.

“Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no…”

Prompto raised an eyebrow at Demyx, who continued to mumble ‘oh no’ to himself over and over again, biting his thumb nail and quivering slightly.

“…You okay?”

Demyx stopped mumbling at Prompto’s question, but didn’t answer it. Instead he stood stock still, head tilted towards the door as he listened again. Finally he turned to his companion.

“I think the dusks found me.”

Dusks? The hell were the dusks supposed to be?

“Do I want to know what you’re talking about?” Prompto decided to ask after a beat of silence.

“Remember when I mentioned there were worse things than heartless out there?”

Prompto caught the implications of his words pretty quickly, his eyes widening. Demyx mirrored the expression, the two of them frozen in rising fear.

“…Time to go?” Prompto asked

Demyx’s answer was a raised hand, creating their escape route via freaky black portal. They both rushed through with no destination in mind, leaving the computer and all of its unanswered questions behind. Sad as Prompto was to not receive answers, he’d chance jumping through worlds in hopes of finding Lucis again over learning what a dusk was the hard way. Besides, who knew what else they’d find as they journeyed. He couldn’t give up hope yet, be it on finding info on his world or ending up back in it. The portal closed behind them, leaving them in the colorful pathway from before.

On to the next world. Hopefully, they’d have better luck there. Wherever ‘there’ was.


	4. Olympus Coliseum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tfw you have to repost because the last part of the chapter got cut off and ao3 won't let you edit...

“………”

“…………”

“………”

“……………………”

“………”

“…”

“You wanna explain what that was all about?”

Though Demyx knew that question was coming, he couldn’t have been less ready with an answer. He and the dusks technically shouldn’t exist, so how exactly did one explain that to a guy who only recently learned that other worlds existed?

“Uh…would you believe me if I told you it was complicated?” Demyx chanced. He hoped he might get out of explaining anything if he made it sound too complex.

“Yes.”

Well that was a surprise.

“Wait, really?”

“We are literally jumping through worlds. Literally anything you say to me is gonna be complicated. Doesn’t mean I don’t want an explanation though.”

Oh. No sell.

“Well,” Demyx started. Then paused.

“Y’see…” he started again. Another pause. Prompto watched with a surprising amount of patience, all things considered.

“How can I put this…”

“Start from the beginning, maybe?” Prompto offered.

“Okay then. So, once upon a time, these two rockin’ parents had this one rockin’ baby boy—”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!”

Demyx sighed. Looked like he wasn’t getting out of this one.

“Okay, so the dusks are Nobodies—”

“Nobodies? Weird thing to call them…”

“That’s what they are. It’s not, like, an insult or anything. It’s _literally what they are_. They technically shouldn’t exist. Basically, when someone has a strong heart and it’s taken by the heartless, their empty shell is left behind. It can still move and think, but it can’t feel. It just…turns into a dusk. Or a more powerful Nobody. Some of them even stay human looking, but that’s rare.”

“And these…nobodies are more dangerous than the heartless, you said?” Prompto asked.

“Yup. Heartless are pretty mindless. Easy to control and, typically, easy to defeat. But Nobodies? They can think,” Demyx said, tapping his temple to demonstrate. He decided from the creeped-out look on Prompto’s face that it was best he didn’t tell his hitchhiker that he himself was a Nobody. He doubted Prompto would have taken that info well…

“Is that why you were worried that they found you? Did you piss ‘em off or something?” Prompto asked. Demyx inwardly cursed himself for letting that slip. He’d have to be careful what he said around the gunner. Clearly Prompto paid more attention than one would guess at first glance.

“Uhhh…not exactly. I might have…had some chores in my home world that I tried to get out of. And maybe one of my fellow Organization members sent the dusks after me as a result.” There. Simple. Not too much. Demyx could do this.

“Tough organization you work for, for them to be sending those things after you. And hey, I thought you said you weren’t a runaway!”

Okay. Demyx could try harder.

“………….I lied.”

Mayday! Mayday! Demyx, stop talking. Bad things happen when you talk! This is why they give you cue cards!

Prompto only sighed however.

“That honestly doesn’t surprise me.”

He didn’t seem all too eaten up about it though. Demyx figured he was off the hook for the time being.

“Where are we anyway?” Prompto asked, looking around himself in wonder. He did that a lot, Demyx noticed. It wasn’t odd to him, after all not many people traveled through different worlds, but it suggested a lot about how different this Lucis world was. Like how their potions worked. That was just plain weird…

Never mind that for now though, as Demyx needed to focus on creating a portal to Lucis rather than wondering about how different it was. If he ever could again. As for where they were now…

The two jumped as the roar of a crowd suddenly filled the area. They stood in what looked like a waiting room of sorts. In fact, Demyx recognized the place quickly as he was only recently there with Roxas.

“We’re in the Olympus Coliseum,” he finally answered. To punctuate his words, another loud cheer was heard through the double doors leading into the arena.

“Coliseum? Like Totomostro?” Prompto asked, his eyes alight with curiosity.

“Uh…?”

“It’s a Coliseum from my world. I’ve never been there myself, only heard about it, but people bet on monsters that are pitted against each other in the arena.”

Demyx scratched his head at that. Yet another example of how weird Prompto’s world was. Why bet on monsters when…

“No one pits the monsters against each other here. They fight them.”

Demyx’s words were punctuated with the loudest cheer yet, signifying that a match was over. There seemed to be some sort of announcer for the event as a particularly loud voice was heard through the doorway, but neither of them could make out what it was saying over the screams. Demyx didn’t want much to do with it, personally. It wasn’t uncommon for outsiders to participate in the games and he didn’t want the satyr to recognize him and drag him into them after he left all of the work to Roxas last time. Unfortunately, his hitchhiker seemed to feel the exact opposite of him.

“Can we check it out?”

Oh no. No no no no no. He was not getting dragged into that arena by Mr. Too-curious-for-his-own-good. He’d have to pull out the big guns.

“You know, people aren’t supposed to know about other worlds. We can’t risk being seen by so many…”

“Huh? But we were seen by plenty of people in that last world…”

Try harder, Demyx.

“There’s a difference between talking to a couple of people versus getting stuck in a fighting arena surrounded by hundreds of people.”

There. That was better.

“Yeah…I guess you have a point…”

Success!

“C’mon. We gotta take some time to cool down after all that portal jumping. We can check out the town,” Demyx said, pointing in the direction opposite of all the screaming voices. Besides, he’d never actually gone out into the town the last time he was there. Instead, he lazed around on the ground, strumming his sitar and napping. He figured that for the sake of his new companion, who likely wouldn’t let him get away with the same sorts of things the Organization’s Number XIII had, he’d get out and about a bit more. New experiences and all that.

Prompto seemed to agree, nodding as his eyes lit up yet again at the prospect of exploration. He pulled out his funky phone with the camera inside, ready to take pictures of whatever new sites there were. Demyx shrugged at that. Figured he’d let his hitchhiker have his fun. A few pictures of a few worlds wouldn’t hurt anyone, and it wasn’t like Demyx was as much of a stick in the mud as _some_ of the stiffs in the Organization. He shuddered at the idea of what would’ve happened if Prompto had run into Saïx or Xaldin instead. Or, gods forbid, Xemnas. That would not have been pretty.

Demyx was pulled out of his thoughts by a camera shutter sound. He turned to Prompto with a bemused look, who only sent a sheepish smile back.

“Sorry. That is why I followed you in the first place though,” he grinned, turning the device to show Demyx a picture of…himself. Huh.

“That’s really all you wanted?” Demyx asked, perplexed.

“Um, yeah. Why else?”

That…was an awful lot to go through just to get a picture of someone.

“You could’ve just ask, y’know…”

“You were kind of in a hurry.”

Good point. Prompto-1, Demyx-0. But then, Demyx couldn’t blame the other boy for wanting a picture of him and his glorious hair. He spent a lot of munny to keep that style up. It was the only reason he bothered going on missions at this point. That and X-face was terrifying.

“Well, take as many pictures as you like. No point in complaining about it now,” Demyx sighed, opening the door to the coliseum entrance and stepping outside.

And not finding the entrance there at all.

“Uhhh… Do all the towns in this world look like this?”

Demyx stared down the staircase that seemed to go on forever, dark and foreboding. It leveled off at the bottom where a glowing green pool of who-knew-what glistened in the dim light, resting almost innocently in an earthy circular landing. Just beyond the landing lay two doors in opposite directions, one green and one blue. Demyx had a feeling neither of them led anywhere good. However, they certainly didn’t exude the near-palatable air of foreboding that the large building up ahead did. Smack-dab in the middle of the purple river (Demyx could only guess what river it was) lay a large arena-like building. What looked like an evil version of the Coliseum up above. It glowed an eerie purple from the water’s reflection, empty and barren of life and activity. That area wasn’t the only source of light, however. Floating orbs that felt of some sort of…presence drifted lazily passed them. Like spirits.

The Underworld. They were in the Underworld.

“No.”

They should have probably turned back.

But then, of course the door closed behind them.

And wouldn’t open again.

“Dude. Did we literally just get trapped in Hell?”

“Well, technically the Underworld is only the land of the dead and the concept of Heaven and Hell exists because—”

“Not helping.”

“Okay,” Demyx moped. He was trying that time, too…

Both of them tried pushing at the door again to no avail.

"What are we going to do now?" Prompto asked. There were worried creases in his brow and his eyes were wide. Not good. He was gonna start freaking out then.

"We could try one of the two doors over there," Demyx quickly stated, pointing both index fingers at the two colored doors.

"And do you know what's behind those doors?" Prompto asked, rather testily.

"Well no.... But I'm sure you don't want to just stand here," Demyx said. He wanted to avoid staying in one place, so as to avoid drawing unnecessary attention and drama. After all, one didn’t simply lurk around the Underworld and expect nothing to happen.

"Alright. Alright, we got this,” Prompto reassured himself. Demyx raised his eyebrows. They didn’t really ‘have’ anything. Except the possible wrath of the Underworld’s resident God. “So, which door should we go through?"

Instead of responding, Demyx thought for a moment before he turned on his heel and started towards the blue door. Prompto, not wanting to be left behind on the stairwell, immediately followed. The two tiptoed carefully down the steps, touching down on the earthy surface of the ground quietly. They took care not to step in the green pool in the middle of the area, neither of them sure what the green liquid was and not willing to find out the hard way. Around them, spirits continued to float lazily through the air, providing additional light to the eerie green glow coming from what Demyx quickly worked out was the river Styx. There didn’t seem to be any other inhabitants, however. Good. No trouble jumping out at them…yet.

There was at least one small dilemma when they reached the large blue door though.

“How are we gonna get in there?”

That.

“Uh. We could try pushing at the same time?” Demyx tried. Prompto sent him a deadpan look.

“You seriously think we can push this thing?”

Good point, Hitchhiker.

“Hrm. Well we gotta try something. You don’t seriously wanna hang around in here and wait for something nasty to come find us, do you?”

Prompto sent a worried look at the door, before turning to the rest of the area.

“I-I don’t know… I don’t want to hang out here, but what if something worse is behind that door?” he asked. His voice shook a bit as he spoke. Demyx didn’t blame him. He was just about shaking in his boots anyway.

“Well, uh…”

It was a good point. But they were out in the open with no cover or protection and that was no way to stay when in the Underworld.

Not to mention, his limbs were starting feel heavy and he had no clue why. He didn’t want to stick around too long to find out.

Sighing, Demyx patted Prompto’s shoulder and jerked his head towards the door. He held out his right hand and, in a bright blue flash, summoned his sitar.

“If anything happens, we’re at least both armed,” Demyx said as he held his pride and joy up. Prompto stared owlishly at it.

“What…is that?”

It was a question Demyx often got, so he didn’t feel particularly offended.

Okay, maybe a little.

“What is this?! It’s only the best sitar in the entire universe! My beloved Arpeggio!” Demyx cooed, cradling his sitar close him. Prompto continued to stare.

“So…what, are you gonna hit enemies with it or something?” he asked, scratching at his head.

“Well— _sometimes_. But mostly I just use magic. Keeps me out of the action. I _hate_ fighting. Guessing you’re not too big on being in the middle of the action either,” Demyx said, nodding at the gun on Prompto’s belt. The gunner placed a hand on his weapon, looking almost contemplative.

“Yeah. I guess you could say that…”

“Exactly. And if we’re gonna avoid a fight, we need to find someplace with cover. So let’s go.”

Nodding in agreement for the both of them (not that Prompto was too opposed anyway), Demyx turned back towards the door and touched it with his free hand, intending to push at it a bit to see just how heavy it would be.

It started opening the moment his fingertips made contact.

“Whoa!”

Their unified shouts echoed throughout the darkness beyond as the door opened wider. Glancing at each other, they both shuffled into the new area, looking around cautiously. It was just as earthen as the previous room, with a large circular groove in the middle. Their only sources of light came from a pair of torches at the entrance and at the far end of the room: likely the exit. As well as, of course, more spirits floating around their heads. Nothing else in the room. They couldn’t quite relax, despite that. Demyx held his fingers over the strings of his instrument, ready to call forth his water with music at a moment’s notice. Prompto had pulled out his gun and held it up in front of him, ready to shoot anything that moved (that wasn’t them, of course).

“There’s…nothing in here,” Prompto noted after a few tense seconds of silence. Demyx gulped audibly.

“Just ‘cause you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

Thoroughly shaken, Prompto kept his guard up and the two stepped further into the area, out of the safety of the light provided by the torches. Nothing stirred save the few spirits gliding by, offering scant light that made the earthy room just barely visible. There were shadows in just about every crevice; inviting spaces for heartless to hide in. Demyx was sure to keep his own guard up in the event that they were jumped.

Yet nothing happened.

Not one spook.

Their slow cautious footsteps eventually took them to the other side of the room and between the second set of torches. On the other side, a winding road led in a gradual slope downwards. Uninviting, considering it was the Underworld. No one wanted to go _further down_. But there were craggy surfaces and off shoots from the path, and this was exactly the sort of cover Demyx wanted. Not only from potential enemies, but potential residents as well. He was already afraid of what could be lurking down there, he didn’t want to find out who was too.

Pointing at the opening to a diversion in the path, Demyx nodded at his companion.

“Let’s head over there and out of the open.”

Prompto easily agreed, looking just as shaken as Demyx felt, and the two shuffled over to the area at a much faster pace than the previous room. It was exactly what Demyx was hoping for. A tucked away area, still well-lit enough from the light of the spirits, but out of the way and closed off from the open area.

And hey, it was a nice place to sit down too.

Demyx did as Demyx-instinct dictated and plopped himself onto the ground, setting his sitar beside him. He wasn’t dumb enough to put it away, not in the realm of the dead, which was likely to be chocked full of heartless. He was honestly surprised they hadn’t run into any yet.

Maybe they were all watching the games too.

Patting the space next to him, Demyx called out to the other man.

“Take a seat, buddy. It’ll be a little while before the corridor of darkness is safe again, might as well relax in the meantime.”

Prompto raised a skeptical eyebrow at Demyx, but sat either way.

“So, water magic huh?”

Demyx hummed in affirmation.

“In my Organization, everyone has a specific power that’s unique to them. Like, a friend of mine, Number Eight, has the power of fire. And a friend of his, I’d mentioned him before, has the power of light. Stuff like that. Well, my affinity’s water, so I have the best control over water magic. I can do all sorts of things with it, ‘specially with my music.”

“You control it with music?” Prompto asked, looking over the sitar beside Demyx with intrigue. Demyx grabbed it and showed it off again.

“Yep. Different chords cause different reactions and different songs affect how powerful the spell is. So if I decide to rock out, there will be geysers everywhere. It’s pretty awesome!” Demyx grinned. Prompto returned the expression.

“Can’t wait to see it in action.”

“Well, I could demonstrate a bit now. I’ll keep it short and quiet so we don’t attract attention.”

Prompto nodded and Demyx settled the instrument into his hands, fingers finding the correct strings and plucking them to a small tune. Around them, the air started to glisten with the increased humidity, small pockets of water forming and floating in tangent with the spirits. Prompto closed his eyes to the music, which Demyx kept perfectly controlled. It was one of his better play sessions, the music coming to him naturally as he played a song he had vaguely remembered practicing when he was a Somebody. One of his few memories from that time of his life.

Both opened their eyes when the song was finished, relaxed into their spots on the ground.

“You’re pretty good at that.”

Finally, _someone_ appreciated Demyx’s efforts.

“Thanks! I’ve been practicing this one for a while.”

“It’s important to you?”

Demyx was silent as he contemplated that. Could something be important to a Nobody? Wouldn’t that mean he had to have feelings to truly appreciate something? When he thought about it…he supposed he could at least imagine the emotion. In fact, it came to him easier than expected.

“Yeah, I guess you could say it is…”

Prompto grinned at that, turning his head aside as he chuckled before looking back at Demyx.

“Sure sounded li—”

Prompto paused for a moment, a long moment in fact, before slowly turning back to the area he glanced at. Demyx followed his gaze. In the darkness, there was a small figure. Just standing there. Watching.

“…What is that?”

Demyx squinted into the shadow, trying to make out the shape of the figure. It was about the size of a small dog, with odd coloring from what he could see. In fact, the more he stared, the more it looked like a dog.

But all wrong.

“Is…is that a dog?” Prompto asked, clearly in the same mindset as Demyx. Before he could answer, a few more figures appeared beside the first one. A low growling sound could be heard from them. Each of them inched closer, revealing themselves to the light casted by the spirits (which had all rather oddly congregated around the duo). The odd coloring revealed itself to be a light blue coat on what had looked like dogs and quickly proved themselves to be otherwise. Slowly, Demyx stood with Prompto mirroring him, grabbing his sitar. He only had one answer for his hitchhiker’s question.

“Heartless.”

In reaction to the word, the heartless all jumped forward at once, ready to attack. Prompto quickly drew his weapon and started shooting. Demyx swiftly and valiantly grabbed for his sitar, placing his fingers to the strings to play a melody rich in the tones of wonder and destruction—

Okay no, he hid behind Prompto.

“Dude, why are you behind me?!”

“Just keep shooting man! I’ll join in…at some point!”

“You’re just gonna leave this to me?!”

Demyx peeked behind him to watch the multiple shots being fired at the heartless, illuminating the area in numerous bright flashes. He was a good shot.

“You look like you got this man!”

“ _You lazy son of a—_ ”

Prompto’s expletive was abruptly cut off by a large booming sound. The two struggled to hold their footing in the resulting tremors, unable to see through the dust that had been shaken up. Coughing, the looked around through squinted eyes to find that all of the dog-like heartless were no more. Prompto looked rather pleased with himself, grinning and spinning his gun. Demyx figured he’d give him this one.

“Those were some A+ shooting skills,” he said in awe.

“Took lots of practice, but I’ve got it down to an art now.”

Demyx would’ve responded, had the boom sound not echoed through the room again. This time, both looked reasonably freaked out.

“What was that?” Prompto asked after a beat of silence. Demyx shrugged, still half hidden behind his companion and not able to see much through the settling dust and darkness. It probably wasn’t good though.

Prompto looked back at Demyx, having not seen his shrug, only to nearly snap his neck when he jumped in terror at the much louder, much closer booming sound. The ground shook again, but this time the two kept their eyes forward. Demyx’s widened when he could see what was causing the racket more clearly. Tall and rotund, a particularly dangerous heartless stood before them in the midst of the swirling dust. Demyx gulped.

“Large Body.”

Prompto’s breathing had audibly quickened, and he nearly gasped out his next words.

“This is the part where we run, right?”

Demyx didn’t need to be told twice. Grabbing his companion’s shoulder, he bolted off down the path. Prompto tripped slightly, but managed to keep up as they booked it out of the heartless’ way. The booming sound picked up again, more frequent and rhythmic. Like footsteps. Demyx took a chance and looked behind them.

It was chasing them.

“Holy Xemnas on a platter! **Run faster!** ”

“I’m running as fast as I can!”

“Try shooting at it!”

“No way, dude, you want me to get squashed?! Why don’t you use your water magic?!”

“I might as well squirt it with a water gun for all the good that’ll do!”

“Then less shouting, more running!”

Demyx could agree with the more running. Not so much the less shouting. His squeals—ahem, masculine shouts followed the both of them down the pathway until they reached what looked like a large crack in the wall. All the air seemed to be sucked into that crack, spirits floating in large groups towards it. An uninviting green glow emanated from within. Not the most ideal looking place to hide, but it was better than being turned into Nobody-pancake by a Large Body.

The only question was if they could both squeeze through while running…

“We’re going in there?!” Prompto shouted back. To Demyx’s dismay, his running speed slowed. The both of them skidded to a stop just before the opening, Prompto in front and clearly apprehensive to go forward; Demyx to avoid mowing his hitchhiker down. Not that he wasn’t tempted to, considering the gunner stopped in the first place.

“What are you stopping for?! Where else are we supposed to go?”

Before Prompto could answer, the ground started to shake again with the force of the Large Body’s footsteps. It was closing in fast, and the duo raised their weapons again as a reflex, backing up against the wall beside the opening. Prompto’s arms were shaking but he kept his gun held forward. Demyx held up his sitar, fingers hanging over the strings. His arms felt heavy and his frame was shaking, but he wasn’t ready to give up and get flattened.

“Think we can even make a dent in that thing?” Prompto asked.

Demyx’s first thought was in the negative, but he quickly shook it away. That was giving up. No one could proudly call themselves a member of the Organization and just give up.

Plus, he kinda wanted to live. Or whatever it was Nobodies did…

“I doubt it, but we might make it if we keep attacking it from far away while going through this crack in the wall one by one.”

Wow, Demyx. That was actually smart. Zexion would be proud. Probably.

Even his hitchhiker seemed surprised, though he was still sending worried glances towards the wall.

“How do we know there aren’t more of those things—” he nodded at the fast approaching figure of the heartless “in there?” and again at the crack. There was no guarantee there weren’t. Before Demyx could voice this, however, the Large Body launched itself at the pair, forcing them to dive out of its way (and unfortunately away from the opening). Prompto, slower this time, lifted his arms again to shoot at the heartless. Demyx strummed his sitar, columns of water shooting out of the ground and towards their opponent. He couldn’t concentrate enough to create water clones and had to make do with making sure it kept its distance. The both of them regrouped, finding to their dismay that the heartless was now between them and their escape route.

“How are we gonna get out of this now?” the gunner asked, his arms shaking even harder with the effort it took to hold them up and shoot. Demyx’s entire body was starting to feel heavy.

Perhaps it was then that the Gods decided to take pity on them.

The answer to Prompto’s question came in the form of a very large sword. One that appeared from nowhere and cleaved its way through the heartless from above. In one hit.

And there was a person attached to it.

Said person pulled his sword out of the ground after the heartless exploded, releasing a heart out into the world until it inevitably turned back into a heartless. Impressive as the sword was, it was no keyblade. As for the person…

“Hey,” Demyx said, nudging his companion. “He kinda looks like you, doesn’t he?”

Prompto, still in awe at the sight of their savior, snapped out of it to raise a puzzled eyebrow at the man with the large sword, looking between him and Demyx for a few seconds before shrugging.

“You think so? I don’t see it.”

Demyx did. Mr. Big Sword had similar spikey blond hair, similar light blue eyes, and a similar baby face to his fair hitchhiker.

But then that was where the similarities ended.

The guy’s sword was bigger than Demyx and Prompto combined. He was dressed in dark clothes, not like the stylish ones Prompto had on, but more dreary and industrial instead, and a red cloak was wrapped around his neck like a scarf. He was also frowning at the two as he hefted that ridiculously large hunk of metal on to his back (seriously, Lexaeus might possibly be jealous of that thing).

The two parties stared at each other for a while silently, unsure of who would make the first move. Eventually, however, the newcomer took it upon himself to break the ice.

“What are you two doing?” he asked in a low, quiet voice. Very subdued despite his stand-out appearance.

“Honestly, we don’t even know,” Prompto answered. Demyx…agreed actually.

Yeah, he had no clue what in the world of chaos they were doing. They probably could have left by now.

Big Sword Guy raised an eyebrow at them.

“Fighting in the Underworld without an Olympus Stone? Do you want to get crushed?”

Good question, Sword Guy.

“Olympus Stone? What’s that?” Prompto asked.

Good question, Hitchhiker.

Sword Guy sighed and crossed his arms. Ridiculously Large Sword scraped across the ground with the movement. Demyx hoped that he didn’t get on Sword Guy’s bad side, lest he end up a crusty stain on Ridiculously Large Sword.

“I’d heard whispers about it as I was travelling through. A stone that stops the Underworld from sapping your strength. You guys are feeling heavy and sluggish, right? That’s the Underworld doing that to you.”

Demyx and Prompto looked at each other in surprise. That certainly explained why they hadn’t been on top of their game. Demyx’s arms did feel more tired than they should have, especially for not having held Arpeggio all that long. His posture sagged (well, more than usual) and his head lulled to the side. Prompto had put his guns away and was rubbing at his arms in relief. He sent Sword Guy a questioning look.

“How come you’re not affected?”

Sword Guy stayed quiet for a moment, his gaze shifted to the ground. He looked like he was in thought or at least remembering something.

“…I am. But I’m not about to let it drag me down. Not here, not now.”

“I can imagine,” Prompto said, “Considering you’re travelling around here. What, are you visiting an ancestor or something?”

Demyx snorted at the slightly affronted look on Sword Guy’s face.

“No. I’ve got business with the god, Hades. Figured I owed him a visit.”

Considering the stony look on Sword Guy’s face and the way he absently grabbed Ridiculously Large Sword’s hilt, he clearly wasn’t planning on having a tea party with Hades. Then again, considering Demyx’s last visit to Wonderland, maybe a tea party could be proper retribution. Whatever it was, Demyx wasn’t getting involved. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like Prompto was interested either.

“Well, uh…you do that. Think you can point us in the direction of this Olympus Stone by the way?” Prompto asked.

Once again, Sword Guy was silent as he stared at the two, this time in curiosity.

“What business do you two have here?”

Red alert, Demyx. Rule number who-even-knows-only-Saïx-cares-anyway of Organization XIII: if discovered by a world’s inhabitants, divert all questions away swiftly and smoothly.

“Oh, uh, y’know just…trying to find somewhere to rock out on Arpeggio. The acoustics here are boss,” Demyx smiled, gesturing to his sitar. Flawless.

“…You can at least try to lie better than that,” said the ever helpful Prompto. Sword Guy just rolled his eyes.

“Well, if you’re looking for the Olympus Stone, try the Lost Road. Going through there,” Sword Guy nodded at the wall crack, “will just get you both torn apart by Cerberus.”

Demyx was somewhat sure he knew what Cerberus was. And entirely sure he didn’t want to get ripped to pieces.

“Noted. Thanks, uh…”

“Cloud.”

Hey, it was cool. Demyx had heard some pretty out-there names. His own Somebody name wasn’t exactly your average Jane or Joe. Cloud wasn’t that ba—

Okay, he giggled a little. And then covered his mouth when—pfft, when… _Cloud_ sent him an irritated look.

“Thanks Cloud. We’ll be on our way,” Prompto grinned, not even batting an eye. Grabbing Demyx’s arm, which hung rather limply in his grasp due to his sapped strength, Prompto pulled him along towards the path. Neither of them knew where the Lost Road was (and considering the name, Demyx wasn’t entirely sure they should bother) but they both figured it was likely in the opposite direction of where they were.

“Hey.”

Both paused.

“I don’t know what you two are up to, but if you need some help? Go to Radiant Garden. There are good people there,” Cloud told them. Demyx filed the information away. While he was still trying…well, mostly trying to get his companion back home, it was good to remember that they had somewhere to go for help should the two get themselves into a bind.

But for now…the Superior might wanna know about that Olympus Stone.

Okay, and Demyx was tired of feeling like a slug with legs.

“So, you think this Olympus Stone’ll really help?” Prompto asked after a moment.

“I’d bet. If anyone’s got business down here, they’d probably need it. I’m surprised Sword Guy wasn’t using it.”

“Yeah…”

Prompto looked back at Cloud, watching as his figure disappeared into the other side. Demyx felt for the guy. Who knew what beef he had with the God of the Dead, but having such beef at all was already disturbing. This guy had to be crazy strong to want to put up a fight against Hades and his pet. Shaking his head, Demyx nudged his companion and turned back around.

“C’mon let’s—crap.”

“Let’s _what_?”

Demyx shot an annoyed look at Prompto and tugged his shoulder, pointing forward with the other hand.

“Heartless!”

More of the small dog-like heartless had started to appear, converging in a group that had started to advance towards the two. Neither of them could even find the strength to hold up their weapons. Arpeggio had disappeared after his not-so-convincing lie and he was sure dragging it back out again would only tire him further. Prompto wasn’t even reaching for the gun he’d stuffed in his belt. He looked at Demyx with wide eyes.

“…Run, run away?”

Demyx nodded. “You don’t have to tell me twice!”

They shot off, swerving around heartless and struggling not to trip over their own feet. The slight shaking of the ground suggested that there was another Large Body nearby as well. That was not something they had the time or energy to stop for. So they ran faster, up the winding path and through the circular room. The large blue door was rapidly approaching and Demyx found himself praying it would open just as easily again as it had the first time. Beside him, he could hear Prompto voicing those same thoughts under his breath. Reaching out, Demyx nearly slammed his hand into the door, laughing with relief when it groaned and slid open. Both of them nearly flew through the opening and landed on their stomachs on the other side. They sat up and watched with anticipation as the door started to slide shut behind them, heartless behind it fast approaching. Their breaths hitched as the dog-heartless reached the opening…only for it to slam shut in their faces. Prompto sighed loudly as he flopped back down, this time on his back.

“Thank Shiva, we’re alive.”

Demyx had no clue who Shiva was, but he was thanking them too. Flopping down as well, he took a moment just to rest. The Underworld really had to be getting to them; he’d never felt this sluggish before. Not even throughout this entire unwarranted adventure. He’d even admit, he was starting to have fun. Just a bit. Not counting the ‘running for their lives’ part.

He blinked and turned his head to the side when he heard the shutter of Prompto’s phone-camera-thing. He oughta find that guy an actual camera, ‘cause that phone thing was just weird. Nevertheless, he raised an eyebrow at the random impulse of photography. Prompto turned towards Demyx as well, a plain look on his face. He pointed to the phone.

“Literal proof that I have been through Hell.”

Demyx didn’t bother to correct him. He was essentially right.

Prompto snapped a few more shots before shoving his phone-thing back into his pocket. He stood up slowly and shakily, offering a hand to his supine free-ride. Demyx groaned, wanting to continue laying a bit longer, but took the hand anyway. The both stood straight and looked towards the large green door on the opposite side of the open space. Walking around the green pool of Gods-knew-what, they slowly started to approach this door.

“Think it might be through there?” Prompto asked. Demyx doubted he was calling Cloud a liar, and was likely just trying to make conversation to fill the eerie silence.

“Only one way to find out.”

Demyx stepped forward.

And immediately jumped back.

A wall of purple flames had erupted from the ground, blocking their way to the door. Interesting. That meant that there must’ve been something worth guarding behind that door. Demyx could almost bet it was the Olympus Stone now.

“How’re we supposed to get around that?” Prompto asked, gulping. Demyx smirked at his companion.

“The Organization way, of course,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Wait, wait!”

He stopped then, looking at Prompto in question. His hitchhiker was grimacing slightly, not meeting Demyx’s eyes. He paused for a good moment before he finally got it out.

“Not to, y’know, burst the adventure bubble. But, if you’re gonna do that…then shouldn’t we…?”

He gestured to Demyx’s outstretched hand and the Nobody got what he was implying pretty quickly.

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, no you’re right. We’re getting carried away here.”

Demyx created a corridor, but not to the other side of the wall of flames.

“Next stop: Lucis. Hopefully.”

Prompto grinned in agreement.

“Yeah, hopefully.”


	5. The Land of Dragons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic right now: <https://68.media.tumblr.com/7b7f57f1c79ca1b86531feb58c371cd4/tumblr_oa5d34hEEX1vpd3wao1_500.gif>

Prompto looked around himself in awe. They hadn't made it back to Lucis, not surprisingly the more he thought about it, but instead found themselves in a large red building. Very large. The decorum suggested it was important too. A palace maybe? Certainly different from the only palace he had ever been in. The Citadel's dark tones couldn't have been farther from this bright red and sunny place.

He turned to ask Demyx where they were and found that his companion was also looking around in awe. As well as confusion. His eyes traced the intricate banners hanging from the high ceiling, the trailing forms of dragons etched on the walls, the large double doors, and he grabbed his chin in thought.

"Never been here," he said.

That wasn't promising. Nearly every time they've jumped to a new world, they've ended up blindsided by something.

"That's because this world isn't in the database yet."

Like that.

Both whirled around, readying themselves for a fight, before Demyx gasped and held up his hand. Prompto paused, pulling his hand away from the weapon at his belt, and looked between Demyx and the stranger. Who, judging by the black coat he wore, identical to Demyx's, might not have been a stranger at all. At least not to his companion, who clearly recognized him despite the fact that his face was covered.

"Xig, you know this place?" he asked. 'Xig' shrugged his shoulders.

"Like I said, new world. Saïx hadn't even sent out a mission here. Probably haven't been any heartless since it returned from darkness. That won't last though. Thought I'd scope it out. See if anything useful was here." As the man spoke, he pulled the hood from his head, unobscuring his face. He certainly had an... _interesting_ look to him. His face was littered with scars, the most prominent one running up his left cheek. His right eye was covered with an eye patch, and the left one...that one seemed to gleam an eerie yellow. His long black hair, pulled back in a ponytail behind pointy ears, was streaked with grey despite the fact that he didn't sound particularly old. But despite his gruff and frankly frightening appearance, he met them with an easy smile. Or smirk. That probably described it best.

"Speaking of missions," he continued. "Aren't you supposed to be on one?"

Demyx balked at the reminder, stuttering through a reply as he pointed to himself, and then to Prompto, and then behind them. 'Xig' only laughed.

"Calm down kid. As if I actually care about scar face and his missions. I'm not gonna rat you out."

Ironic that this man would dare to call someone else 'scar face'.

Nevertheless, Demyx did indeed calm down. Breathing out a sigh, he nodded a thanks at the man before placing a hand on Prompto's shoulder. He started to pull him away before 'Xig' held out his own hand.

"Now wait, wait, wait..."

They paused.

"You gonna introduce me?" he grinned. Demyx only rolled his eyes, but Prompto continued to watch the man wearily. He was still unsure about his own companion, though his heart seemed in the right place. But this guy...he screamed something sinister. Behind that cool smile and laid back demeanor, there was something almost feral behind that eye. Yet when he moved forward, he only did so to hold out a hand.

"Xigbar," he offered, not waiting for Demyx to start the introductions. Prompto took only a moment to stare at the offered hand, before reaching out to shake it.

"Prompto."

Xigbar smirked again, which at this point seemed to be his default expression, before pulling his own hand back. Prompto didn't miss how that single eye glanced down at his covered wrist though. It was creepy, like the Niflheim Chancellor. Subconsciously, he covered his wrist with his left hand. Xigbar didn't comment on it though.

"Always nice to meet another shooter," he said instead, nodding at the gun Prompto had kept in his belt. Prompto blinked. Xigbar's name had sounded familiar, now that he thought about it. Demyx had mentioned him before when they were talking about his gun in Twilight Town.

Xigbar picked up on the curiosity in Prompto's eyes, holding up his right hand and summoning a weapon to it. The weapon itself was an odd sight to behold, clearly a gun and yet clearly...not. Prompto unconsciously stepped closer and Xigbar held it out for him to inspect. Its design was more complex than any run of the mill gun, more flashy than anything. The barrel was shaped oddly and the opening wasn't round. Prompto wouldn't have been surprised if it didn't shoot bullets. Before he could ask though, Xigbar pulled the weapon away, looking behind himself.

"Sounds like you guys have company on the way," he said. The weapon dispersed and instead Xigbar created a black portal like the one Demyx and Prompto had just come through.

"Since you both just got here, if I were you two? I would run."

They heard the sound of footsteps and shouting then. Lots of it, coming from down the corridor. Xigbar smirked again and saluted them.

"Ciao," he said, disappearing into the portal. Not even offering them help. Prompto suddenly understood what Demyx meant when he had said that no one really gets along with Xigbar. He decided he did not like the guy. The noise was getting closer by the second, individual voices becoming discernable. Clips of words such as ‘intruders’, ‘danger’ and ‘emperor’ were thrown around. Suddenly, Prompto understood why this place was so decorated and important looking. If an emperor was involved…

“We should probably start running now…” he suggested.

“Ditto!” Demyx shouted, turning on his heel and bolting down the corridor. Prompto was right behind him.

“How is it we keep ending up running from something every time we visit a new world?!” he shouted ahead at Demyx. The voices were getting closer, and between their accompanying thunderous footsteps and the rush of air passing his ears, Prompto had no choice but to raise his volume. It seemed Demyx realized the same.

“I don’t know man!” he shouted back. “But we sure don’t wanna stop now!”

They had no clue what direction might have been the right direction, but they weren’t exactly in the best situation to ask for directions. Demyx whipped his head around, searching each hallway branch they passed in hopes of finding an exit, before suddenly he skidded to a halt, grabbing Prompto’s collar and nearly dragging him to the ground. He pointed down a larger, more decorated hallway, at the end of it a tall set of two red doors. They both booked it towards the doors. The high pitched sounds of air splitting registered in Prompto’s ears as they reached the halfway mark.

“I don’t know if you wanna know this but they’re shooting at us!” Prompto shouted.

“Why wouldn’t I want to know that?!” Demyx answered. Half turned, he summoned his sitar and strummed a chord. Pillars of water shot up behind them, blocking the path of their pursuers. Prompto ran ahead of Demyx while he was busy, nearly throwing himself into the doors in order to open them. Prongs stuck out from the wooden surface, suggesting the use of a wooden bar that would typically keep the doors locked. They were more than lucky that there was no such bar. Finally, the door opened and both of them shot out of the entrance, Demyx’s boots squelching from the water that had pooled on the floor under his feet.

The courtyard outside was bustling with activity. Servants and handlers and merchants milled about, leading horses and bringing wagons filled with goods. A few looked up at the sound of the commotion, but for the most part Demyx and Prompto were ignored. They made use of that by sprinting down the steps, Prompto tripping a few times and Demyx slipping more than once, so that they could get lost in the crowd. It wasn’t the most foolproof plan, after all they were two blond haired people in black clothes wading through a sea of black haired people in colorful robes and garments, but it’d likely give them more time than they would’ve had had the courtyard been empty. And they doubted…or at least hoped that their pursuers weren’t likely to shoot arrows into a crowd of civilians. Looking back, Prompto saw the palace guards, sopping wet and red faced, barreling angrily down the stairs. Frantic, he pushed Demyx along quickly, in hopes that they’d at least make it outside of the palace grounds. Demyx did indeed run faster, pushing through the crowd as Prompto shouted apologies over his shoulders at the disgruntled workers, before finally they reached the gate. The, praise the gods, _open_ gate. More traffic was travelling into the grounds, leaving Prompto and Demyx squeezing themselves to the walls of the gate so as to not get trampled by carts and wagons. Somehow, they’d made it out. And found themselves met with a stretch of road leading out into what looked like vast countryside.

Not risking getting caught by any guards that might have reached the gates, they immediately started hiking their way up the dirt road. Out here, the traffic was much thinner, with only a few travelers along the way, in carts or on foot, either giving the two weird looks or ignoring them entirely. Not that either of them minded. After all, they’d rather avoid any questions about who they were or where they came from. Prompto spent the time walking looking at all of the sights. It was so different from anything he’d ever seen. Sure being out in the fields of Duscae had a similar feel to this land, but it was only arbitrary and inconsequential. A random ping of nostalgia and slight homesickness. In reality, this place was much different, what with its babbling streams and stretches of irrigation and farmland. Not a forest in sight, though there were snow covered mountains in the distance. As well as what looked like a town. A close one, at that.

“Think we should head there?” he asked Demyx, pointing at the blip on the horizon.

“And what? Get questioned by the authorities when they inevitably hear about two palace escapees?”

Prompto rolled his eyes. “Because we’re totally gonna stand in the middle of the town square and announced who we are. Definitely. What I mean is, it’d be a good place to R&R while we wait for your weird portal thingy to recharge.”

“Correction,” Demyx pointed out, _literally_ pointed in fact, “It’s a corridor of darkness. And it doesn’t need to recharge, we just shouldn’t jump through it back to back. Unless you wanna get corrupted by darkness. That wouldn’t be pretty.”

Groaning, Prompto grabbed the front of Demyx’s coat…thing and dragged him along. He honestly didn’t care what the weird portal thingy was called. And as for getting corrupted by darkness, he already knew he wanted to avoid doing that. While he had no proof of Demyx’s words, he wasn’t planning on taking any chances.

And he also wasn’t planning on taking chances standing in the middle of the road while he waited until it was safe for them to leave. _That_ wasn’t safe. More like handing themselves over on a platter with hotsauce, that’s what that was. He’d take his chances in the town.

When they finally reached the place, dusk reddening the sky, they found themselves with a quickly closing gate. Shuffling inside quickly, ignoring the odd looks they got from the guards at the gate, they found themselves in what actually looked to be a large city. At least for this sort of world. Though evening was approaching, the streets were still full of hustle and bustle. There were merchants running carts through the roads, pulled by horses and oxen. Peddlers on the sides of the streets selling whatever cheap merchandise they’d crafted. Stalls of food that left trails of smells wafting through the air, causing Prompto’s mouth to water. While they had already hopped through four worlds, it had still only been a day for Prompto. But it was a day in which he hadn’t eaten since his group’s early lunch at a Crow’s Nest, and that left his stomach growling as well. Passed wooden buildings sectioned off symmetrically, he managed to wander over to one of those stalls, glimpsing at the wares. Demyx followed, unsure of what Prompto was up to until he saw what he was heading for.

“Hey, man. I don’t have any trace of this world’s currency. Unless you’re planning on nicking something while the stall-keep’s head is turned, we aren’t getting anything from here,” Demyx spoke up. Prompto turned to him, frowning pitifully. The owner of the stall eyed them both warily.

“Dude. We’ve hopped worlds more than I’ve been outside my house back home,” if Prompto counted the road trip as one instance. “All this excitement’s a bit too much on an empty stomach.”

Demyx grabbed at his own middle, grimacing as he likely realized that he was in the same predicament as Prompto. He seemed to think to himself for a moment, before his eyes popped wide as he came to a realization.

“I got it!” he exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “C’mon.”

Once again, he was the one dragging Prompto. Briskly, he headed up a path that seemed to be leading away from the rest of civilization, a collection of large houses and farms dotting the landscape. While these properties were not outside of the city, they were disconnected from it. At least in the way gated communities tended to be from the inner city of Insomnia. These must have been the richer residents. Judging by the sizes of their houses and farms as compared to the rest of the city, at least. Demyx once again searched frantically for something, though this time Prompto wasn’t sure what. He decided to ask as they passed the first large house.

“I’m looking for a holo-moogle.”

“A what?”

“The moogles all have serious businesses to run, but like the rest of us world hoppers, they can’t reveal the presence of other worlds. So they created this sweet hologram system to run their markets through. Makes it easy on those of us who can’t keep travelling back and forth to Twilight Town or my home world to talk with real moogles. They’re usually only visible to those who seek them out, though,” he explained.

They’d continued rather far up this particular road until Demyx finally spotted what he had been looking for. He exclaimed “aha!” as he led Prompto up passed the gate of yet another large house likely belonging to a well off family. The smell of stables reached him, though not with the same pungent quality that chocobos tended to produce. He’d also noticed that there was little activity out on the farm. There were low, glowing orange lights coming from the house itself however, suggesting a family busy inside. Perhaps they were eating dinner? Although the thought of dinner had Prompto’s stomach growling, so he stopped that thought process in its tracks.

Beyond the house and the stables was a small hill, separate and ungated, leaving easy access for Prompto and Demyx to reach their target. And there Prompto noticed what it was Demyx had been gunning for. A small sliver of blue light shimmered in front of the small shack…a shrine, judging from the small glimpse he had of the inside. Prompto was a bit curious about it. His country worshipped the reaper and the concept of death was more accepted than morbid. While he’d never seen one in person, he knew quite a few people had kept shrines in Insomnia to honor the dead. It led to a natural curiosity about the left behind remnants of those who had passed on, rather than having an aversion to it. Not that he enjoyed the idea either, after all the thought of losing someone dear to him was personally terrifying, but he knew that anyone represented in that shrine was long gone and their deeds in life were what to be remembered. He found his eyes sweeping the inside of the shrine curiously as they got closer to it. And to the holographic moogle waiting in front of it. Eyes wide, Prompto found himself immediately distracted and fascinated by the display of technology. Created by _moogles_ of all things.

“Let’s hope this one sells food,” Demyx mentioned as he walked up to it. Prompto frowned at him.

“You mean there’s a chance it doesn’t?”

“I sell food, kupo.”

Both jumped at the high pitched voice that had answered them, staring owlishly at the hologram.

“Whoa! How’s it doing that?” Prompto asked, dropping to his knees to inspect the hologram. There seemed to be no speaker underneath it or around it, which made no sense as holograms made no sound. At least as far as he knew.

“Hades if I know. But that works for me,” Demyx shrugged, grinning. Digging his hands through his pockets, he managed to scrounge out a small amount of money before holding it out the hologram.

“What can we get for this?” he asked it. It only floated there serenely for a moment, making no moves whatsoever, before finally answering.

“You can afford three hotdogs, kupo.”

Demyx fell to his knees beside Prompto, clearly in despair.

“Arghh!”

“We’ll take them,” Prompto answered. At this point, he’ll easily take some hotdogs over nothing. It wouldn’t be the most filling meal, but he was going to be running on fumes soon and Kenny Crow french fries weren’t the best fumes to run on in the first place. He and Demyx would just have to split the third one.

Sighing, Demyx forked over the money and then sat back, waiting for something. Prompto honestly, really, truly shouldn’t have been surprised when a few seconds later, three hotdogs popped into existence in front of him. Yet there it was, he jumped. And maybe screamed a little. Just a little.

“Calm down, Slim. They’re just hotdogs,” Demyx said, grabbing two of them, breaking one in half to hand one of the pieces to Prompto. He took it tentatively, a skeptical look on his face.

“Does your food usually pop out of nowhere?”

“Not usually. But that’s how the holo-moogles work. They use their magic to send their wares through space and stuff.”

Space and stuff…

“How does their magic even work?”

Demyx shrugged again.

“Dude I barely know how my own hair stays in place, even _with_ the gel. Don’t expect me to understand moogle magic.”

Yeah. Prompto wouldn’t make that mistake again. Rolling his eyes, he sat down properly and stuffed the half hotdog in his mind, grabbing the other one in front of him. Thankfully they had appeared in little paper trays, so neither of them had to eat anything off of the ground. Leaning back, Prompto enjoyed his food, and the subsequent quieting of his stomach, as his attention was drawn back to the shrine. He could see little letterings on the stone tablets inside, though he couldn’t read any of it. Above their resting spots hung a bowl meant for incense, and above that sat five statues, four along the ceiling and one hanging from a few strings and rested atop what looked to be a miniature gong.

Intrigued, Prompto finished his food and stood, Demyx’s eyes following him curiously as he stepped inside the shrine. The sound of clothes rustling caught Prompto’s ear as Demyx also stood, following him inside. His reflection played off of the glossy, obviously polished surface of the stone as he too looked around, marveling at the inside.

“You ever see anything like this before?” Demyx asked. Prompto raised an incredulous eyebrow at him.

“You haven’t?” After all, Demyx was the world hopper. One would think he’s seen just about anything.

“Nah. I usually don’t hang around residences when I’m on a job. No time to go snooping into people’s private lives, unless recon demands it. Which is rarely. But this? Never seen anything like this.”

Prompto hummed.

“Me neither. I know there are shrines back in my home world. And it’s kind of a thing in Lucis to honor the dead. But I never really needed to. My parents were still kicking last I saw, and I never had any siblings or extended family. No need to honor those who were never there.”

“Huh.”

Prompto sent Demyx a questioning look. “So you don’t do the same in your world?”

“What dead is there to honor?” Demyx snorted. “If you got chewed up by the heartless then believe me, there’s nothing left to honor.”

He thought for a moment.

“Though I guess we do find ways to remember people. My organization’s big on that, having a way to be remembered. The Superior even built an entire facility that stores data of our existence so we can never be forgotten.”

Prompto wasn’t sure if that was caring of Demyx’s boss or just plain creepy. It certainly took dedication, though, to build an entire facility just so his employees would be remembered. And Prompto supposed that was pretty similar to a shrine. It may not have counted as honoring the dead to Demyx, but it showed that he and his organization would always have some sort of presence in the world…whatever world that was.

“I see,” was all Prompto could think to say to that.

“Hey, no need to get all morbid on me!” Demyx grinned, patting Prompto’s back. Good Shiva was he heavy-handed.

“Sorry, jeez,” Prompto grumbled, rolling his shoulder.

“Aw, don’t apologize. I get it, sometimes these things need to be talked…about…”

Prompto stared, perplexed, as Demyx trailed off. His gaze was behind Prompto, his head tilted up as he took in the sight of whatever it was that caught his attention. Apprehensive, Prompto slowly turned as well, his eyes following Demyx’s line of sight. The small stone dragon atop its perch was…well it wasn’t stone anymore. Instead it stood atop its gong, a golden instrument instead of a stone replica now, glaring down at the two with attentive, snake-like eyes. In fact, its entire slender, red-scaled body seemed serpent like.

Prompto really didn’t like snakes.

“Will y’all shut up,” it said.

Oh gods, it spoke. Prompto had seen a few dragons along his journey with Noct and the gang. But never had any of them spoken.

“You gon’ wake the ancestors up!” it continued, throwing up exasperated claws. “And believe me, nobody wants that.”

“Prompto, that dragon is alive and it’s talking to us,” Demyx informed Prompto, his voice calm despite his freaked out expression.

“Ya dang right I’m talking to you! Who you thought I was talking to, the Hun leader? _You_ need to stop talking before—”

“Mushu!” a voice boomed. Both Demyx and Prompto jumped, looking around wildly for the source of the voice. The dragon, Mushu it seemed, cringed slightly.

“Now you done it,” it sighed.

All around them, blue light flushed the area as numerous shapes erupted from the tablets, settling their hazy images into the forms of humans long passed. Their ethereal light glowed and pulsated in a very similar vain to Noctis’ magic, particularly when he collected a royal arm. The shadows bounced around the room as a result, the forms undulating and rippling as if they were being viewed through water. Though they gathered in a circular fashion, they were still scattered throughout the shrine, floating at different heights as if in a hierarchy, with the largest and most important looking one standing… _floating_ at the helm in the middle of the semi-circle.

Ghosts. They were ghosts. Prompto really didn’t like ghosts.

“What is all this noise you insist on waking us from our slumber with?” the leader asked, his stony gaze focused on the small dragon. Mushu turned sheepishly towards the spirit, faking a placating, and decidedly toothy, smile.

“Heh, First Ancestor! How you doin’? So, look, I was just tryna ward off these bozos over here…”

The first ancestor only sighed, rubbing his ghostly temple as Mushu prattled on with excuses. Surprisingly, the other spirits had only sent passing glances at the two world travelers before ultimately ignoring their presence. One of them spoke up.

“I don’t care about some wandering yahoos in the shrine! You oughta keep down that racket,” she’d screeched in her very old-lady way. Prompto felt mildly offended at being called a yahoo.

“At this time of evening, I need my beauty rest,” another one of them added. He was decidedly not very beautiful, so maybe he did need it.

“No one’s in the mood for your usual games, lizard!” yet another one shouted.

The first ancestor placed his face in one of his hands as his fellows devolved into full blown bickering. Looking at each other, they slowly started to back out of the shrine, sighing in relief as they stepped over the threshold and escaped the voices of a dozen or so dead old people screaming over each other. And occasionally at each other.

They heard a gasp behind them then, freezing as if they’d been caught committing a crime. Which, hey, Prompto wasn’t even sure if they did. He doubted people wanted strangers just waltzing into their shrines and talking to their ancestors after all.

Turning their heads slightly, they found a woman with long black hair and a cottony, well-made dress, clearly styled to fit her culture. She watched them with cautious eyes, her eyebrows downturned and her posture tense as if she was readying for a fight. All she held in her hands was a lantern, but Prompto knew better than to let her catch him off guard with it.

“Who are you two supposed to be?” she asked, voice steady and stern. “Thieves? I can’t imagine what you’d find in my family’s shrine.”

Uh oh. Looks like they managed to get caught by one of the residents of the house. Not that Prompto figured she would’ve been anyone else, after all he saw no farmhands or servants around, and she was dressed nicely enough to clearly have money to her name. Still, this was bad luck to the nth degree.

“Uhhh… We were just…passing by? Yeah, that!” Demyx offered, his hands raised as if in surrender. The woman narrowed her eyes at him.

“Look, I don’t know why you’re really here, but you’d better leave now.” She smirked then. “Or else I might sick Little Brother on you.”

Judging by her assuredness of her tone and the fact that she said the word ‘sick’, Prompto was going to assume Little Brother wasn’t actually her younger sibling.

“Eheheh,” Demyx laughed nervously, likely having come to the same conclusion. “Any chance this Little Brother is just some little farm kid?”

Her smirk widened.

“Are you sure you want to find out?”

No. No, Prompto did not want to find out. He’d seen ironic names like that before. Some guy in his junior homeroom had named his Rottweiler “Floofy”. The thing had been in dog fights before it was adopted. It always won. So Prompto was willing to bet that this Little Brother was some sort of beast neither he nor Demyx wanted to get tangled up with.

“Time to go,” Demyx swallowed thickly, holding out a hand to the side. As the portal appeared, the woman jumped back, staring in confused terror at the black rip in space before running back down the path, shouting for someone to help. And calling them both choice words that Prompto would not repeat, screaming that they would regret endangering her family and sullying her ancestors.

Prompto agreed it was time to go, stepping into the portal after Demyx.

**Author's Note:**

> Alternatively, none of this happens and Demyx sits around on the couch for the rest of the day until Saïx storms in and smacks him with his claymore.  
> But that wouldn't be as fun.


End file.
